Animal crossing
by define-originality
Summary: It was just a dream...or is it? When Aimee boards the train, thinking she's headed home, she ends up in the amazing world of walking, talking animals; Animal Crossing! My first fanfic, hope you enjoy! Reviews welcome.
1. Journey into the unknown

Chapter 1: Journey into the unknown.

It was a brisk Autumn afternoon. The weather was cozily warm and the sky was a stretch of blue canvas, with the odd cotton wool-like cloud littered about. The sun was faded into the background, like a splodge, and I was stuck at a train station. On a glorious day like this. Typical.

I had spent the past few days visiting my Nan, and was now at the station, waiting for the quarter-to-two train to take me back to my hometown. Despite the fact that it was a Monday and most people would be at work, I found it strange that I seemed to be the only person there. Surely there would be at least a few people coming off of holiday? Visiting relatives? Or at least people working at the train station, porters and the like? I should have realized then that this day would bring unexpected surprises to my ordinary, boring life.

I got up and walked over to the ticket booth. This too was eerily deserted, surely there should have been a guard stationed here? I shrugged it off and turned to the board with the time table pinned to it. After all, I already had my ticket, a return from my previous journey.

The words seemed to be faded, but I managed to just make out the times of the train. It appeared on the hour, every twelve hours. Only two trains a day? Very strange. This definitely wasn't the station I arrived at. I began to panic, there was no destination written next to the times, there was no people around and I was in unknown surroundings. **I was lost**! I slid down the wall, tears pricking my eyes. I was never going to get home.

A few minutes later, I noticed smoke flowing onto the platform. Oh great, now I was being gassed? Had they decided to blow this whole station up, on the day I had foolishly stumbled across it, lost? It seemed the world was completely against me.

'_Choo choo.' _A whistle blew loudly, making me jump. A whistle. A train whistle. A steam train whistle. Oh my god. Wiping my tears away, I peered through, what I now realized was steam, and gazed upon the green steam train that was now stationed in my platform. A miracle, the world had finally decided to give me a break. But, hang on….

I looked back at the time table and scanned down to the first train time. Twelve o'clock. Midday. It was now quarter to two. The exact time on my ticket. Strange. This was my train, but this train, my train, wasn't supposed to be at this station, just like I wasn't. If I was smart, all of my instincts would have screamed at me not to get on this train, that there was something extremely odd about this whole setup. I guess that makes me incredibly stupid then, or maybe just deaf. Yes that's right, like a fool, I approached the train and clambered aboard. I guess my excuse was that I just wanted to get home. It was surprising how much worrying could take it out of you.

It was empty inside too. Maybe it was just me getting used to it, but for some reason, it didn't faze me any more. I chose a seat next to the window to ease my travel sickness, and watched the door automatically snap shut behind me. I was getting used to what I would class, normally, as strange, but I couldn't control the feeling fluttering around inside me, the feeling of being trapped, the instinct that something was wrong, something different, unusual was taking place.

The train began to shudder, starting to pull off, beginning my journey home. Well, I assumed I was going home anyway. Scenery blurred past me, as we picked up speed, the flashes of colours, as trees and sky mixed, soothed me and I felt less nauseous than I usually did. I found myself being able to read signs without the urge to heave afterwards. Unusual signs. I certainly didn't recognize places such as 'Paradise Isle' and 'Fantasy Road' on my way here. Mind you, I had spent most of that journey curled up in a ball, trying to sleep my travel sickness away.

After what seemed an hour, or less, the train came to a halt. I was a million percent that this wasn't my stop. No, make that a billion percent. The sun shone far too brightly, the sky was too blue and bright, the trees were the exact Autumn colours you would expect the leaves to be, but slightly more so. Everything seemed so bright, cheery, almost fake. I didn't recognize an ounce of it.

"Last stop." A patient, but clearly firm, voice rung out of the speakers, I detected an odd accent that I couldn't pick up on. It was English, but quite… squeaky? The door creaked open, letting in a breeze that was rather pleasant. The air smelt different too.

I shook my head, this wasn't the last stop, it couldn't be. I was adamant that we hadn't passed my hometown, mainly because the train hadn't stopped at any platform other than this, but also because I hadn't spotted it. However, it seemed that I had no choice, other than leaving the carriage and setting foot into, yet another, unknown place. I guess I could always ring my mum and ask her to pick me up, once I found out where I was.

Once on the platform, the train took off. I watched it race around the corner and then took a deep breath, ready to face this colourful town. I planned on getting this all done with as quickly as I could. I longed to go home and curl up in my comfy bed, to dream away this nightmare of a day. Until then, I had things to do. The first of which was to find out where I was.

"Welcome Miss." I spun round at the sound of this squeaky, strange, but still English, voice and almost screamed. A monkey in a porter's outfit was talking to me, standing up on it's hind legs. That's right, a monkey. Talking. "You must be new here, I don't recognize you." He (I assumed it was a he) tipped his hat. "Welcome to Animal Crossing."


	2. This is just a dream, right?

**Chapter 2: This is just a dream….Right?**

Animal Crossing? I was in a place called Animal Crossing. With a talking monkey, that could walk, and was wearing a porter's suit. Like that's believable. This was clearly just a dream. A crazy dream. Any minute I would wake up and my Nan would tell me I would miss the train if I didn't hurry. That _had_ to be the case.

I stared at this monkey, who was staring back, smiling constantly, annoyingly. The fact that, he too, was oddly bright, not just his attire, but also himself, was weird. Cartoon-like. The feeling of relief was satisfyingly sweet, surely this was clear proof that I was actually just dreaming after all.

I walked down the steps that led into the town and sat down on the bottom step. Everything seemed even brighter now. It all looked fake. It seemed that my brain couldn't even be bothered to invent something plausible for me to dream of. Talking animals and an imaginary world was exciting and everything, but it didn't even look real. I went to take out my mobile from my jeans pocket, only to find that it wasn't there. In fact, I didn't even seem to have a pocket. Great. My mind was changing my clothes now too.

Despite all the evidence, part of me still wasn't entirely convinced that I was dreaming. I guess that's why I kept being so cynical. Why I kept trying to find proof that it was a dream. And why I hadn't let go and started enjoying myself. If I was so certain that I was going to wake up, why wasn't I running around like a loon? Why was I still hell bent on getting out of here? The only conclusion that I could come to was that my mind was trying to screw me over.

The grass swayed in the breeze and the tree leaves rustled, as I dodged through them. There certainly was a lot of trees. And no people. Or anymore talking animals. It was too quiet. I could hear the chirping of grasshoppers and the songs of the beetles that were climbing up the trees, the whistling of the air as it sailed past my ear, the big station clock chiming, but no talking. No footsteps. No human life seemed to exist. Little did I know how true that was.

Eventually, I reached the Town Hall. That's what the sign indicated, anyway. Perhaps I could use a phone in here to call my mum. Assuming that this was reality, that is. A bell chimed above the door, as I pushed it open and cautiously looked around. No-one was sitting at the two counters in front of me, and I couldn't make out anyone in the back, even after I had strained to see. I was getting used to being alone.

I stepped in a bit further and studied the Town Hall better. It looked quite snug really. Welcoming, despite the lack of employees. The two counters were separated by a pillar, each one had a coloured mat in front with a picture relating to the services they provided. The one on the left was green, with a picture of a house on it. I guessed that that side dealt with public services, regarding housing, environment, etc. The mat on the right was red, a picture of an envelope upon it. That side was obviously the post office. Each counter had a bell placed next to the pillar. Quite convenient.

On the far side, on the right, was a large green bin. I sauntered over to it and peered inside. Allsorts were placed inside, such as some clothes, wallpaper and even furniture. I guessed that the bin was used for recycling. As I shut the lid, I noticed writing printed on top; '_Recycling collected at 6 AM __Mondays and Thursdays.' _Yep, a recycling bin.

'_Ping.' _The bell chimed pleasantly, as I waited for someone to approach the counter. I could see shadows of two people conversing behind a door in the back room. They were getting closer. Looks like they had heard me pressing the bell. Good. I glanced out of the arched window, looking at the animated scenery. Hopefully, in a few hours I'd be gone from here.

"I know they have Pelly…" I heard a someone say, coming out of the room in the back. It sounded like a male voice, rather croaky and old. "…But I'm afraid we haven't got those sort of funds for an extra bridge, nor the equipment to get rid of some of those trees. If everyone bought an axe from Tom Nook and hacked away, that would solve the tree problem."

"Yes Mayor Tortimer. I'll pass on your suggestion." A female voice this time. It was light and cheery, rather youngish.

"Good, good. Ah a visitor. Someone new." I looked up at this point, they had noticed me. This time, I did scream.

There was a flurry of feathers and hurried plodding and the two voices were by my side, just as I passed out, onto the floor. I would guess that fainting at the sight of **more **talking animals would be an exaggeration to you, but to me I was utterly stunned. And physically exhausted from all of the mental arguments. Was this a dream or not? Everything seemed to point to a dream being the logical answer. The empty train station, the train journey to here, everything looking cartoon-ish, the reason I was actually here. The fact that animals were talking, walking on two legs and wearing clothes. Yet, as I came to, I realized that the feathers of the pelican stroking my forehead felt neither like the waxy feel of a cartoon drawing, or fuzzy like the fake fur of a plush toy. They felt real. Like actual bird feathers. The breath escaping her beak felt real, sounded real. And, although it looked so fake, outside, everything felt real.

"Poor thing." The pelican cooed, as I squinted through my eyes at her and the Mayor, a tortoise, stood over me. "It must have been quite a shock. I imagine the human world is very different."


	3. Realization

**Chapter 3: Realization.**

I was lying in the back room of the Town Hall, a cool flannel on my head, and Pelly and Tortimer (As I had found out they were called) sitting beside me. I was still battling between acceptance and denial, what was real? Everything I touched felt exactly like it did in 'the human world'. Surely a dream would make it feel fake too? I wasn't an expert, I didn't know.

"Feeling better?" Pelly smiled down at me, patting my hand, soothingly. What amazed me was that they didn't seemed fazed that a human had stumbled into their world. Had this sort of thing occurred before then? I tried to smile back, like I was unaffected, but I got the feeling that my smile ended up turning into something that made me look retarded. Oops. "Was there anything we could help you with?"

I had forgotten about that. The reason that I had wandered into the Town Hall. "I need a phone. To call my mum. So I can get home." I stated, rather matter-of-factly. I think it came across, fairly obviously, that I wanted to get out of here quickly. Pelly and the Mayor, Tortimer, (I should really just call them talking pelican and tortoise, seeing as I _could_ be dreaming. Calling them by their 'names' made it seem all too real, and I wasn't certain that was the case yet.) looked at each other, a look of pity and worry were set on their faces. Uh-oh, not a good sign.

"I'm sorry…" The pelican started, clearly trying to sound as gentle as she could. It made me more nervous, I wished she'd hurry up and stop prolonging the inevitable. "…All of the town's phones are only connected to the Animal Crossing Service Centre. No-one can contact the outside world, or connecting towns that way. There's always mail service though." She added, brightly. Bright news for her, maybe, but not for me. Unless I wanted to send a letter and wait for it to be sent and received, it appeared I was stuck.

"Why would you want to go home anyway?" The Mayor interjected. "Didn't you choose to come here?" That question seemed extremely daft to me. Why would any human being want to go to a world of talking, walking, trying to be human, animals? A place that made you feel like you were crazy and delusional? It was beyond me.

"I got lost, I ended up here by mistake." I ended up explaining the whole expedition. I explained that humans didn't belong here and that I just wanted to go home, or wake up. Yep, that's right, I even included my dream theory. As I got further and further into my elucidation, they looked more and more concerned. I tried to ignore it, but my insides writhed, I knew there would be more bad news delivered.

At last I finished. The Mayor raised himself from his seat and began to pace. They obviously thought I had gone mad. Transferring into another world? A dream where they weren't actually real? They actually believed they existed. Perhaps they did, I was so confused.

"But you aren't human…" The pelican spoke, after a while, breaking the silence. I was quite taken aback by this comment. Had I somehow changed into an animal also? No, I couldn't have, I remember seeing my pale legs when I sat down on the station steps a while ago. Human legs. "…Well, you are, but not humanly human. You described us as cartoon-like? Brightly coloured and fake looking?…" She winced at the word 'fake'. That clearly offended and upset her, just as it would if someone said the same to me. "…You're exactly the same." The Mayor plodded back to us, clutching a hand mirror in his left hand. He held it up to me and I saw a reflection of some doll, brightly coloured and cartoon-ish. Exactly like the animals. That wasn't me.

Yet, it was. I looked down at my body, my clothes. My jeans and hoody had been replaced with a summery dress top, white with a red heart in the middle. My shoes had changed into blue trainers and my socks were stripy, red and white. My legs, arms and my face were pink, more pinky than peachy (which the colour of skin should be) and my skin didn't look like flesh at all. I rubbed it, expecting to feel plastic, rubber or even material, like a rag doll, but it felt like flesh. I pinched it, it hurt. If I was crazy enough, I would have clawed through my skin, just to see if I had blood and what it looked like. Just to make it clear, I'm not that mental.

This new discovery made it clear as to why a 'human' suddenly showing up didn't faze them at all. I wasn't actually a human. In looks that is. To them, I looked exactly as I should, just like they did. This couldn't be a dream after all, yet I still, desperately, clung to that philosophy.

"So, I'm one of you ?" I queried, aloud. The two animals just stared at me. "So, I've transformed into something…like you?" Maybe I should just shut up. I didn't want to anger or offend the talking animals, especially as it seemed I was stuck with them. "Sorry."

"That's quite alright." Pelly really was cheery, almost too cheery. The Mayor still seemed stiff with me, however. "I expect it's a lot to take in." She came closer to me and patted my shoulder. Then she looked back at Tortimer and gave him some sort of look.

Yes, well…" He cleared his throat and nodded towards me. "Seeing as you're staying, perhaps we should get you set up. A house, a map, acquainted with the villagers, that sort of thing." The first thing that struck me, was that there were more. More animals. Riiight. The second thing was that they actually lived in houses. The animals aspired to live like humans, no, scratch that, they **were** living like humans. "Pelly will get you all you need. I, however, need to get back to work." Mayor Tortimer bade me good day and ushered us back out to the front of the Town Hall. Pelly smiled politely and handed me a map.

"You can choose a house from one of the ones circled." Her feathered wing indicated the four houses scattered around the town. Each had a different coloured roof. "You may choose any you wish. I'll get onto Tom Nook- he's the store owner and he owns the houses. He built those houses, you know. He also renovates." Blimey, this Tom Nook must never get any sleep. "I'll tell him about your situation. He'll find you at the houses." She smiled again. I thanked her and set off to find a place to stay (Live seemed far too permanent for my liking.).


	4. Home sweet home, I guess

_Essenceofphlegm:- I'd love to live in Animal Crossing too! But I quite like being cynical about it not being real, such controversy! Lol. I 'm so pleased you like the story so far and I aim to update every day or so, I have a lot of ideas for it, which explains why I'm dragging it out-to make it all last. __J_

**Chapter 4: Home sweet home…I guess.**

There really were too many trees. The Mayor, as I recalled, had mentioned that the only way to get rid of them, was for everyone to hack away with axes. Lack of funds, he had said. Seemed to me that, maybe, they should organize that straight away. These trees were annoying. I was beginning to feel dizzy as I weaved between them, looking up from the map every so often, so that I didn't walk straight into one.

The first house I came to was in the middle of a cluster of trees. Not an ideal location. The roof was red, not one of my favourite colours either. Other than the fact that it was quite secluded, I wasn't drawn to this house. I trundled on.

The next was in a more open area. The roof was green, ew. A few trees were scattered around, as well as two extra houses. The way the villager's houses were positioned didn't do this house any favours. One was beside the house, off at an angle. The other was slap bang in front. Not something that took my fancy.

Further up was the next house. I could see the shop from here. The house was in a clearing, a stream to the right of it, another villager's house to the left, a few feet away. The roof was yellow, my second favourite colour. It was a house to consider, definitely.

Lastly, I reached the beach. The final house had a blue roof and was situated just in front of the sand. It looked lovely. There were no other houses around, except one that was next to the stream, that was quite a stretch away. Seclusion. Perfect. The beach. Nice surroundings. The only, minor, problem was that the shop, the Town Hall and, what was labeled as the 'tailors' were quite a trek away. Never mind.

I opened the door and stepped inside. Hmmm, rather…small. There was a cardboard box in the far left corner, with a desk lamp on top of it, and a tape deck in the far right. There didn't seem to be room for much else. Upstairs, there was a phone. I checked if you could actually call anyone from out of town. Nope. Some breezy voice rang out in my ear; '_Thank you for calling the Animal Crossing Service Centre, where __we adjust life to your needs. How may we help?_'' I snapped the phone down quickly. Pelly was right. There was also a basic bed. Blue, to match the colour of the roof. This room was squashed too.

I made my way back outside and saw someone run towards me. A racoon. Wearing a blue apron. That had a print of a white leaf on. Need I comment on how odd it was? Considering most things had been odd so far.

"Well? What do you think? How was it, hm?" The racoon panted, pausing by my side and beaming at his handiwork. I just stared at him, blankly. "You are the new girl, yes? The one whom Pelly said needed a place to live, hm?" Not live actually, but what was the point of pointing this out? These animals were clearly delighted with having me here.

"Yeah, it's… It's ok…" I started, about to complain about the size. Were all the houses this small?

"You're quite sure? This is the one you want?" He interrupted.

"Well…Yes, but I was just wondering…"

"Very well! It's decided then! That house no belongs to you, erm…" He paused, waiting, I presume, for my name. I never thought I'd have to get personal. I never thought I'd be stuck here. Looks like I had no choice.

"Aimee."

"What a happy day for you, Aimee, I'm certain!" His cheerful nature was rather sickening. I wanted home, not to stay here! "Tell you what…" He continued. "…I'll throw the radio in at no extra charge!" How generous (!)

I know it sounded like I was being ungrateful, but I was still coming to terms with this all being real. I hadn't asked to be brought into this strange world and now, well it seemed I was stuck.

"Now, let me see…" Tom Nook twittered on. I only caught snippets of what he was saying. "…As you can see…The houses don't have any furniture at all…Anything you need, you'll have to get on your own…Don't try to mess with others things…" Was this a lecture? "…Pop into your neighbour's houses to get ideas for your own interior designs…" Why would I want to decorate, when I planned on leaving as soon as I could? "…With the fees and closing costs, the house comes to…19.800 Bells!" **WHAT?!** I was dumbfounded. Surely that was far too expensive for someone who was just renting the place for a while?! "Is there a problem?"

"What are Bells?" I asked, still shell-shocked. Too shell-shocked to even question the price, or argue the case. My head was still reeling and the question about Bells beat its way out of my mouth first.

"Oh, I do apologize. Bells is the town's currency." He eyed me carefully. "You don't have any money do you?" I shook my head, deciding to bite my tongue on the steepness of the price (chicken huh? You may have guessed by now that I tended to avoid confrontation. I may moan constantly, but I never do anything about it, for fear of the consequences. Although, the consequences may have good outcomes, but I never thought about that.). He let out a short laugh. "Not to worry, hm. You can work at my shop, part-time, to pay it off. Yes that's acceptable!" Great. Now I had landed a house and a job, when I had no intentions of staying. "Come by my shop later to work. You can check its location on the map. Don't be late! "

I watched him scurry back through the thicket of trees and sighed. Things seemed to go from bad to worse. Ok, so I had a place to stay, but I had to work to pay it off. If I had chosen to live here, I would have been grateful. But to me, it just seemed like my goal of getting home seemed to be getting further and further out of reach.

I checked the map again. The shop was up near the yellow house. I thought I might as well begin my trek there and begin work as soon as possible. Maybe I'd get it all out of the way today, I didn't know how much he had planned for me to do. I hoped it wasn't much, I felt exhausted already. My watch had disappeared, so I couldn't check the time. I made a mental note to check the station clock when I reached the shop. If I could see it, that was.


	5. Work

_Chapter 5: Work._

_**The clock struck five, just as I reached the shop. Well, brown wooden shack was more accurate, but hey. There was a sign hung on the door, reading; **_

'_**Open-8 AM**_

_**Closed-10 PM'**_

**Clearly, this shop was in demand. It must get a lot of customers if it was open that late. When I entered, however, it was empty. Just the racoon, Tom Nook, stood at the back, check-listing a stack of packages. A rather hefty stack. I did a quick count, there were at least ten packages and a wad of paper. Just brilliant. **

**It appeared that he hadn't noticed me yet. My eyes scanned the room (yes, that's all it was. A room. Only just bigger than the ones in my house.) as I waited, checking the merchandise. Two pieces of furniture, a shovel, a fishing rod and a net. Some sheets of paper, flower bags and a sapling. Not a lot at all. I couldn't even spot a back room, or anywhere for Nook to store his stock. **

"**Ah.." He had noticed me. "So, you've decided to show your face." He chuckled, his humor wasn't funny, in my opinion, but I forced a smile. "First things first, you need to change into these work clothes." He handed me a folded up t-shirt. It looked like all they wore in this place was a shirt. They seemed to cover me up anyway, and the one I was wearing was pretty cute. **

**I took the shirt and looked around. It struck me that I had nowhere to change. Nook seemed to realize this too, as he told me to go home, change and come straight back. I did as I was told. The shirt was a grayish green colour, with the same white leaf picture that Nook had on his apron. I decided that this top didn't suit me. I laid my other outfit, folded, onto my bed and set back off to the shop. At least I would keep fit this way.**

"**Yes, yes, that suits you just fine." Nook clapped his hands together, spotting me as I re-entered the shop. "Let's put you right to work." He handed me a clipboard with a list of names and items upon. There was a pencil clipped underneath the clasp. "I would have recommended that you acquaint yourself with the villagers first, but I really need these packages delivered before tomorrow. I'll have more stuff for you to distribute then and I'm sure you wouldn't want things to pile up." He stuffed the parcels into a bag for me to carry, the bag was bulging already. The comment about getting more stock tomorrow baffled me, but I just batted my eyelids. "After all, you could always introduce yourself as you give them their orders. Just try not to be too long. I have some extra tasks for you to do, just before you finish for the day. Just to get you in the swing of things." He pointed to the wad of paper and a few flower bags that were hidden behind the packages.**

**I groaned silently. I would probably be up all night, what with navigating through never-ending trees and trying to find who lived where. And then I had **_**more **_**stuff to do. I heaved the bag up, boy was it heavy, and picked the rest of the parcels up with my hands. Tom Nook grinned at me and got back to work. Just standing in the front of his shop, waiting for customers. It occurred to me that, actually, he could deliver all of this stuff. Lazy guy.**

**My feet and back were beginning to ache from lugging the heavy objects, as I reached the first house on the list. According to my map, anyway. It was the one by the green roofed house, the one that was slap bang in front. It looked quite nice. The sign said '**_**Daisy's House**_**'. This was the right one. I rooted through the bag to find the three items that were hers and then made my way to the front door. Before I could knock, however, the door swung open and knocked me to the floor. The items I were carrying, fell out of my arms and landed on the ground, scattered around the garden.**

"**Oof." My bottom hit the ground, hard. I felt dazed and my head stung from where it was hit. Rubbing my sores, I stood back up on wobbly legs. Now this animal thought I was stupid or clumsy. At least it didn't think I was rude, like the others I had met so far. Stupid first impressions.**

"**Oh, my." The animal ran over to me and helped me up. I was waiting for it to care about its' belongings, to be honest. A pleasant surprise. For once. "Are you ok? I'm awfully sorry. I can fly out of my house in a bit of a rush." There was a girlish giggle. "You should have knocked."**

"**Yeah, I'm…"I felt groggy from the hit on the head, I was having trouble piecing words together, let alone sentences. This worried me, was this concussion? I shook my head, snapping out of it. I was just tired, and sore. Now, come to think of it, I was hungry too. But work had to be done. "I'm ok. Thanks." I looked up, a white dog, wearing a shirt made up of different coloured rectangles, was clutching my arm, biting her lip, looking positively worried about me. It was quite sweet, actually. **

**She smiled, relived. Her blue ears pricked up, excitedly, as she spotted the packages. "Ooh, are these for me, Bow-wow?" She (Daisy, I guess) ran over to each one and picked them up. Then she turned back to me. "Thank you so much…" I guess she had spotted me properly. I could almost hear her thoughts; '**_**Who is this strange girl, and why is she doing Nook's job?**_**'' **

"**I'm Aimee." I decided to be courteous, instead of the usual attitude I had adopted. "I'm working for Nook, part-time, to pay off the loan for the house I'm staying in." Note that I said **_**staying**_**, not living.**

"**Oh!" Daisy, the dog, bounded back over to me and hugged me tight. "It's so nice to have someone new move in! I'm Daisy, I like most things, and I say Bow-wow occasionally. Bow-wow!" Ok, that was random. I guess that 'Bow-wow' was her saying, like a catchphrase. Like me saying '**_**LOL**_**' almost all the time on facebook. **

**Daisy was still grinning inanely at me. I guess she was trying to thank me for delivering her things. It wasn't much, just some wallpaper, a net and a telescope, but she was still grateful. "I have to give you something to say thank you." She gushed, running into her house. "Here." She handed me a radio, just what I didn't need. I had one of these already. Saying that, this one **_**did**_** look better, however, too big to fit in my cramped little house. "It's a retro stereo. Just to say thanks, Bow-wow." I thanked her and put the gift in my bag. **

**Next on the list was someone called Dotty. Her house, according to my map, was right up near the station. From Daisy's house I would have to cross the river, via the bridge and keep on walking west. Fair enough. Where was the bridge? Daisy waved at me, as she passed, pottering off to her friend's house that was just nearby. Probably, to tell them about the new resident, me.**

**I set off through the trees, eyes peeled for a bridge. My map indicated that it was further down. That made no sense to me. Why go down, just to go across? I rolled my eyes and pulled my bag behind me, weaving between the trees. Stars had started to appear in the sky. Pink haze had replaced the bright blue. I found it harder to see. Clearly, these animals hadn't heard of street lights. **


	6. More work

**Chapter 6: More work.**

Finally, I could see the bridge. See it, not approach it, due to the fact that I was standing on the edge of a ridge. I recalled going up a hill on my way to work from my house, but not two. Mind you, I wasn't paying too much attention. I swung my legs over the edge and pushed myself off, landing on my feet like a cat. The bag rammed me in the side though, pushing me down onto my knees. It hurt. Next time, I decided, I would find the hill to go down.

I crossed the bridge and looked for the hill to climb, all the way back to the top, to get to Dotty's house. I knew what Pelly had meant about a new bridge now, I presumed that the other villagers had complained about going the long way round to cross. Apart from the bridge I had just crossed, the only other way, was the bridge by my house, and that was even further down.

At long last, I arrived. Only to find that she wasn't in. Yep, after checking to see if this was the right house, I staggered up to the door. This time, instead of waiting to get hit, I knocked immediately. No answer. I took a step back, about to wander round to the window and peek in, but I spotted the same sort of sign that hung on Nook's shop door, except this one was on Dotty's door.

'_I've gone out for a stroll. Back soon._'

Typical.

Right, who was next? I let out a sigh of frustration and looked at the list. The next thing I knew, I was being hit on the head, by a net.

"Oops." Someone giggled. "You're not a bug." I tell you, these animals were really trying my patience. Did I look like a damn bug? Did I have antennas growing out of my skull? The answer to every single question was, of course, NO! I folded my map back up and shot a look at this absurd animal. A rabbit. Giggling profoundly. At me. Being hit. By her net. That, I assumed, she had done, on purpose. Maybe she found it a good way to strike up conversation, but I was not amused.

"Dotty?" I asked, gritting my teeth. I had resolved to push my rude attitude aside, considering I was stuck here for however long. I wanted friends not enemies. As the evening dragged on, however, I was finding harder and harder to bite my tongue (Not literally, that would be pretty easy. And hurtful. And would probably worsen my mood.).

"Uh-huh." The black and white rabbit was almost dancing on the spot, musical notes appearing above her head. Yes, I could actually see them. If I hadn't disregarded my dream theory, I would have taken that as definite proof. However, I was too tired to start mental arguments again.

"Delivery." I delved into the bag and produced three parcels. One was unmistakably a fishing rod. The other two were big, most likely furniture. Dotty, on the other hand, was staring at me. I don't know if she had realized, before, that I was new. Or that I was a human, not an animal. Or that I was delivering parcels, dressed in Nook's work clothes. But she certainly had now. And the look she possessed was either one of confusion- who was this person? Or one of horror- what has she done with Nook? I felt like hanging a sign around my neck:

'_I have neither kidnapped nor murdered Nook. I am simply working, part-time, for him to pay off a house loan. Hi, my name is Aimee and I will be your delivery girl for the foreseeable future. Oh, and yes, I am new._'

I waited. She, eventually decided that I was ok. "You're new." She stated. Sarcasm crept up my throat, but I swallowed it back down. I just nodded instead. '"I just love to make new friends, Wee-one! My name is Dotty, I'm a Pisces, I enjoy fishing and catching bugs, and I say Wee-one a lot. Wee-one." She had gone back to being lively again. "Why are you working for Tom Nook? Where is your house? What's your star-sign? What's your name?"

Whoa. That was a lot of questions. "I'm Aimee." I started with the obvious stuff, trying to focus on the other questions she had asked. "I'm working to pay off my loan, erm…My house is the one by the beach. And my star sign is Libra." Luckily, I had been into astrology a while back. It didn't strike my interest anymore, though. But a thought had just occurred to me; these animals had birthdays too.

"Aimee…I like that name. Let's be friends." Dotty smiled, dancing again. I agreed, mainly to get her to leave me alone, but also out of amusement. Despite my criticisms, I found it hard to fight against the fact that this world fascinated me. Everything was so different. Magical. I felt like I had reached the top of Enid Blyton's 'The Faraway Tree' and ended up in this world. Or walked through the wardrobe of C.S Lewis' 'The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe' and come out in the town of Animal Crossing. Except I had come by train.

To express her gratitude, Dotty gave me a citrus carpet. I decided to lay it on my floor when I finally arrived back after working. Anything was better than what was already there- what looked like a stone tile. I thanked her for the gift and set back off. The next house I had to visit was by the yellow roofed house. That wasn't that far away, thankfully, just by the river, past a thicket of trees.

I arrived, shortly after, and spotted the shop on the other side of the river. I couldn't see any hubbub, any rush to get in there. I wondered if Nook was just plain lazy. I also spotted a sign above the shop door, which I hadn't noticed before. Nook's Cranny. What a strange name. Actually, when you thought about it, it wasn't so strange, this was Nook I was talking about. I also spotted another shop next door to Nook's. It was a white and pink house-like building, with a green roof. The sign indicated that the shop was called Able Sisters. The map told me it was the tailors. I made a mental note to visit it soon.

Pulling myself back to reality (or as close to reality as I was going to get.), I walked up the front path to the door of my next recipient. As I got closer, I saw boxes piled up by the door. Was this person moving? The door was slightly ajar, so I peeked in. A bear, blue in colour, wearing a yellow shirt with blue and pink patterns on, was moving furniture around. Nope, he had just moved in. There was a huge moon-like figure in the middle of the room, two wooden figures, that wobbled, were in the far corners, and something that looked like a totem pole was between them. There was also some fish dotted about. I guessed that this bear enjoyed fishing.

"Hello?" I called out, timidly, tapping on the door. The bear looked round. As usual, I was greeted by a look of confusion. Though, this one wasn't quite so. "I'm Aimee, I'm working for Nook to pay off a loan."

He nodded, coming closer. Jogging closer, I should say. Even though it was only a few steps between us, you could see that he was mentally counting how many jogs he took. He clearly took fitness seriously. I took off the bag and pulled out one of his packages. It was a roll of wallpaper. One he desperately needed, as his walls were bare.

"'Bout time!" He took it from me and waited for the rest, his paws outstretched. I handed them over. Another totem pole and a bench. Ah, a weight bench. "Thanks." He placed the items down on the floor and offered me some fish. I declined. I wasn't hungry enough to eat that, I hated fish. "I'm new here. Not had the time to meet anyone yet. Or do my daily exercise of crunches, playing basketball and doing push-ups, Grah, Grah." I noticed that he kept on jogging, on the spot, whilst he was talking to me. "I'm Kody. I like fishing and I love working on my abs. I love exercising, full stop. I also say Grah, Grah. Grah, Grah"

"Nice to meet you." I didn't particularly find it nice, but I wasn't going to say that. I think he was the weirdest animal I had met. And I had already met Dotty.

"Thanks for the stuff, maybe we could work out together sometime. A fifty metre sprint, a hundred squat thrusts, something like that." Don't count on it! I nodded politely, though, just so I could leave without anymore hassle.

Phew. Three down, one to go, not including the extra stuff Nook had planned for me when I was done. I was almost finished.

_Note- The animals get revenge! After all those times I've hit someone in the back of the head with a net, Dotty finally gets vengeance. Can't say I blame her…_


	7. Have I finished yet?

**Chapter 7: Have I finished yet?**

Lobo's house was situated by the wishing well. The map told me that that's what the fountain was called, anyway. To me, it looked just like a fountain. There were coins in the bottom, had someone foolishly tossed away money so easily, just to make a wish that wouldn't come true? It reminded me of my childhood. I was a big believer of wishes. The amount of money I had wasted, in ponds, wishing wells etc, etc. I remember crying when the wishes never came true. I was only little. And my wishes, I now realize, were kinda stupid. Of course I was never going to get a dog.

The fountain seemed to be attached to a big tree. I thought it was quite neat how they had managed to achieve that. The mayor was taking a walk around it. He nodded at me. I got the impression he didn't like me. Either I had come across ruder than I thought, or he just resented me being human, I wasn't sure. I decided I didn't care. I didn't think much of him either.

It was getting colder, night had set in now, it was just after seven. I made haste to Lobo's house. It was just down from the fountain. I could see a bluish, almost grey, coloured wolf walking up to the house I was heading to. Maybe that was him.

"Hey.. Hey!" I called, running as fast as the bag would let me without being tripped up or wounded. He hadn't appeared to have heard me. "Lobo!" That did it. He turned round and spotted me, running and waving like a loony. I was surprised he didn't run off screaming. Maybe other residents acted like this. It was the sort of thing I pictured dotty doing. "I…have…a parcel…for…you." I huffed. I'm seriously unfit, running **always** took it out of me. I assumed _it_ meant wind. Thank _god_ I wasn't stood in front of Kody. Horror struck me, please tell me this wasn't another animal like him.

It wasn't. That didn't mean that the alternative was good, though. The closer I got, the meaner this animal looked. He was a wolf, after all. His eyebrows furrowed, almost glaring at me. What had I done? His shirt, which was black and white and checkered, seemed to reflect his mood. No, not his mood, his persona. Well, I was guessing he was like this all the time, instead of just in my presence. Ok, ok, I was hoping.

"So you're the new one." His voice sounded like a snarl. I was praying he wasn't about to morph into a wolf from my world and eat me up. Yes, I know it was stupid, being scared of a wolf that was my height, who could talk and act just like a human and showed no signs of being savage, but I still was. "Aimee, right?"

I had just picked up on the fact that he knew who I was. Saved me going through the boring speech of '_I'm blah, blah, blah and I'm doing blah, blah._' (Well you knew the speech. I'd said it three times already.). "Yes."

"Paying off your loan huh, Ah-rooo?" Why was he quizzing me? He seemed to have already made up a judgement of me, or so it seemed. So why was he asking these dumb questions? I nodded. "That sucks."

Erm…ok? I was thrown off balance by that. Was he showing commiseration? "Yeah…so your package." I fished out a fishing rod (Ha ha.) and handed it over. He took it, his expression not changing, and pocketed it. Not that I understood how he did that.

"Thanks." He said, gruffly. He dug back into his pocket and handed me some paper in thanks. Wow…paper. He continued his walk back to his house, but stopped just before entering. Luckily I was still staring at the stack of paper he had given me, in disdain. "The name's Lobo. I like fishing and quiet walks. I Ah-rooo sometimes. Ah-rooo." Then he ventured inside. Random. I was beginning to think that these animals said random phrases, just for the hell of it. They only seemed to say them when they were telling me about themselves.

Finally, I staggered back to Nook's Cranny (That's the last time I'm using that name, it sounds so weird.). I was so tired, and my stomach was rumbling loudly. I remembered, as I entered the shop, that I wanted to visit the tailors next door. I guess I could force myself to stay away from my new house just a bit longer.

"Ah, finally." Nook was delighted to see me, as always. His shop, I noticed, had made no change since my absence. Every single item that had been there before, still was. "You took longer than I would have liked, but never mind." I had half a mind to make some snappy retort about him doing his dirty work himself in future, but I held back. If I made too many enemies (to add to my list of Tortimer) and was kicked out of town, I really would be stuck.

"I'm sorry." I found myself apologizing. My brain wasn't working so good on automatic. Perhaps I should have switched it to blank mode. Nook waved my apology away and led me to the back of the shop. Then he thrust an armful of trees and flower bags into my arms. Apparently, I had to go plant these. He had said that the environment needed brightening up. And that every tree removed should have another tree planted elsewhere, or something like that. All I could focus on was that I thought this town didn't need anymore trees.

I couldn't be bothered to go too far. Fatigue was kicking in. I planted the trees (there were three) in a row, just behind the shop and then planted the flowers in front. My back ached, once I had done. It had taken me nearly half an hour to dig sufficient holes and plant the foliage. I could now add dirty to my list of problems.

You could call me dense, but I suddenly realized that my house seemed to have no plumbing. I had no toilet to do my business (so to speak) or a shower/bath to wash. Not even a sink. There was no cooker to cook food, or a fridge to store some. In fact, I didn't even know if you could buy food, I hadn't seen any.

I decided to ask Nook. He stared at me blankly as a response. Apparently apples (This towns' fruit) were the only food produce, but many of my neighbours' cooked regular meals. As for a cooker, fridge, toilet and sink, I would have to buy those. They classed as furniture.

"So what do I do if I need the toilet?" Another blank stare. Apparently these animals didn't ever need to go. Now that I think about it, neither did I. But I definitely needed to wash. I was covered in sweat and dirt. I had a feeling that it wasn't going to miraculously disappear overnight. I had no money and Nook didn't have a shower or a bath in store anyway. I certainly wasn't going to jump in the stream where the fish lived.

"You still have a lot to learn, it seems." Nook plainly stated. No, really? I had only arrived a few hours ago, met only a few people. Of course I hadn't learnt everything. And another thing, how was I meant to learn anything if a). No-one had bothered telling me, and, b). I hadn't been allowed to wander about and find anything out? "Now, the animals in town love to receive letters." He handed me the wad of paper. "I need you to write advertisements to my loyalist customers. Think of it as practice. After all, your neighbours' will want you to write to them often." Why would I want to write to them, if I could just talk to them? But it gave me an idea.

I sat down in the corner to write. There were four pieces of paper for four letters, to four people. Punchy, Dotty, Lucy and Lobo. I decided to copy my first letter for all the rest. Changing the name, of course.

'(Name of recipient), _Hi. I am writing to thank you, I suppose, for shopping at Tom Nooks' store. He appreciates it. If you keep on being loyal, he will give you a discount, I think. He should. Anyway, keep on shopping here_, _at this wonderful store, if you want that is. Aimee. (For those who don't know, I'm new. Working to pay off my loan.)._

Yeah, I know, I'm no big letter writer. But I had done what I was asked. All I had to do now was post them at the Town Hall, and then I was home free. Till tomorrow.


	8. Solace

**Chapter 8: Solace.**

Luckily, the lights were still on in the 'Able Sisters'. Despite the fact that it was rapidly approaching nine o'clock at night. Nook had sent me home, promising more tasks for the next day, as long as I posted the letters I had written first. I planned on sending them alright, just not right now. Before I went to work tomorrow, though, definitely.

I pushed open the door and squinted through the bright light that met my eyes. It was so much more radiant in here. The walls were patterned with green and pinkish wallpaper, not murky brown wood and it was so much more inviting. This was how you designed a shop, Nook should have taken notes.

"Can I help you?" I looked round. A blue hedgehog, wearing a green and white check apron, was edging towards me, shyly Check was **the** design in this place, it seemed. "Welcome to Able Sisters, where **you **are the fashion designer!" I looked around, there were eight shirts placed in the middle of the room, all had unique and intricate designs. I made my way past them, to the back of the room. There was another hedgehog here, brown in colour, wearing a pink and white check apron, working, sewing a pattern on the sewing machine. I tried not to let that amaze me.

I was struck by the clothes at the back. I wondered why they had separated them, rather than keep all the clothes together. The blue hedgehog seemed to have picked up on this. "Would you like to design something?" She pointed to the cluster of shirts in the middle of the room. They were designs chosen and created by the villagers. "Or would you like to buy something?" The ones for sale were the clothes at the back. That included the umbrella, hair accessory and face accessory (the ones available at that time were a crash helmet and 3-d glasses.).

"I'm just looking." I mumbled. I edged closer to get a better look at the other hedgehogs' work.

"Mabel, can you take care of this customer here?" She snapped. Whoa, I hadn't done anything!

"What. Sis?!? I'm busy too, you know!" Standing around doing nothing seemed to pass as busy in this town. Maybe I should use that excuse on Nook sometime. So far, I had found out that these hedgehogs were sisters. And one of them, the blue one, was called Mabel.

The other one decided to reply with a sharp, irate exhale. She was probably counting to ten in her head. For the millionth time today, I felt like coming up with some snappy retort. These animals were intriguing, I'll admit that, but they sure as hell were screwed up. And aggravating. And most were rather unpleasant.

"Sorry about Sable." Mabel whispered, following me as I headed towards the door. "She keeps to herself. Keep talking to her everyday and she'll come round." I wasn't sure I wanted to. If she snapped at me just for looking, what would she do if I talked?

Eventually, I arrived at my house. I had snaffled a few apples on the way, by shaking the fruit trees, and had decided that they would have to do for dinner. My alternative would be banging on doors, scavenging for a spare meal. Not appealing. I still had the letters to post, but first I wanted to write a letter of my own. I wasn't sure that this idea would work, but it was worth a try. I tore a sheet of paper off the wad Lobo had given me (who would have thought it would have come in useful huh?) and started to write.

'_Mum. I know you're probably worried, but I'm fine. I ended up in some other world, strange, but true. Animals talk here, I know you'll think I'm lying, but I'm not, honest. I miss you. I'll try to get home as soon as I can, but it seems I'm stuck for now. Don't worry, I have food and I've been provided with a house that I have to pay off by working. You'll be pleased with that, you're always banging on about me getting a job. I'll write again, as soon as I can. Provided that this letter, along with the others, get to you, that is. Love you. X_'

I addressed the letter and then set back off again to post them. As soon as I got back, I collapsed, exhausted, on my bed and slept soundly.

*

I awoke early, and munched on an apple for breakfast. I was surprised that it filled me up instantly. _Magic_, I thought. I was disgusted to find, however, that I had fallen asleep in my work shirt, and that I was still dirty. I needed a shower, and fast.

I arrived at Nook's, contemplating jumping in the stream, earlier than, I think, he expected. He lumbered me with another heavy bag, though, and gave me another list.

"Not so many deliveries today." He grumbled, clearly set on making me work extremely hard to pay off this loan. I wondered how much of it he had deducted for yesterday. Did I have any other miniscule jobs to do today? "Just three." I think Nook was talking about the deliveries still, I hoped. I set off out of the shop. It was another cheery day, mid-September was usually like this though. Well, in my world. I realized that it was my birthday was soon. Hopefully, I would be home by then.

The first house to deliver to, was the house near mine, the one by the stream. I had noticed, last night, that it was very looked after. The garden was full of flowers, tended to regularly, by the looks of things. There were two trees, newly planted, behind the house, the owner had clearly been planning on making a orchard or something.

I knocked loudly on the door. It creaked open just a tiny bit, and a white pig poked its head round. I smiled tentatively. "Oh!" She squeaked. The next thing I knew, the pig was standing on the doorstep with me, smiling broadly and gripping my hand. "I'm Lucy! I tend to say Snooink when I'm happy, but you can ignore that! My birthday is June 2nd, so that makes me a Gemini. I like to garden and catch bugs." She paused, I think she was thinking of what to add to that, almost biographical, account. "You're the new girl everyone's been talking about." She added. Everyone had been talking about me? It was a wonder I didn't have them all banging on my door to see me. I was grateful for that, though.

"Yeah." I didn't want to pour through the same old speech. It was dull. It struck me, however, before I started, that I had explained all this in those four letters I wrote. Lobo, someone named Punchy, Dotty and… Lucy. She was one of the recipients. Phew, saved.

Right on cue, she stated brightly; "Aimee. You wrote me a letter." It wasn't really a letter, so to speak, but if she wanted to think that, then so be it. "It was…intriguing." I took that to mean that she liked it. She did. She had also warmed to me, quite considerably. She asked me all sorts of questions about myself. I decided, seeing as I didn't have much to do, that Nook wouldn't mind if I stayed and chatted to Lucy for a while. There was nothing he could do about it anyway. He wasn't about to leave his shop, not to drag me back, if he couldn't even be bothered to handle his own deliveries. What's more, I found myself liking Lucy too. Wonders would never cease.

She had asked me how I got here, and about the world I came from. That took me by surprise, none of the others had asked that yet, not even Pelly or Tortimer. "I'd like to travel one day." She replied, dreamily, once I had answered her question. "Oh! I almost forgot!" She took out a pen and a notepad, that already had notes scribbled upon. "I'm no good at remembering birthdays, I write them down, so that I don't forget. When's yours?"

"September 29th."

She noted it down and then paused. Today, if time had remained the same, was the 15th. "That's two weeks away!" She exclaimed, excitedly. "The day after Kodys'!" Great. If I stayed here, I would have an athletic bear organizing horrendous exercises for his birthday treat, the day before mine. Ok, I may have been imagining the worst, but I had no idea what this bear was capable of.


	9. Punchy

**Chapter 9: Punchy.**

After giving Lucy her parcels, a new watering can and a birdcage (which actually had a bird in, I was surprised to find.), and receiving a gift from her, which was a blue trim wall, I set off to the next house. It was back up near the green roofed house, the one that was off at an angle. I waved to Daisy, as I passed, who was setting off to go fishing, and approached the door of Punchys' house.

There was no answer. I looked in, through the windows, no-one was home. Daisy was watching me, coming closer. "He's not in." She told me, even though I had already established that. I looked at her, blankly, hoping that she would elaborate. "Kody dragged him off to do some exercises, Bow-wow." She finally explained. "He said that Punchy was getting too fat and he needed someone to train with, since Goose is ill." I had no idea who or what Goose was, but I felt slightly sorry for this Punchy person. Sorry, make that, animal.

"Where are they?" I asked, I knew I had to deliver my deliveries some way or another. If trekking across the whole town to find Punchy was the only way to give him his packages, then so be it. Even if I didn't actually want to.

"I think they were headed to the wishing well, Bow-wow." I thanked Daisy for her help and set off. Thankfully Punchys' house was near the bridge, so I didn't have to search far and wide to cross over the stream.

Sure enough, as I drew nearer to the fountain, I spotted Kody and a black and white cat on the path circling the wishing well. Kody looked ready for action, muttering under his breath, keeping himself motivated, warming up. The cat, however, looked ready to crash. He was sweating profusely, little dots appearing above his head. I felt sorry for him. I had been dreading the same thing happening to me, after all.

"Punchy?!" I called, hurrying closer. The cat looked up, relived that he had an excuse to leave, and hurried towards me.

"Quick, Mrmpht." He wheezed, scurrying away as fast as his little legs would allow, pulling me away too.

"Hurry back!" We heard Kody shout after us, still doing lunges. Punchy tried to speed up, evidently petrified. It would have been funny, if I didn't feel sorry for the poor little guy. Like me, he was clearly unfit. He didn't look fat, maybe just a little pudgy. He looked like the kind of guy who was content with most things, easy going, that's probably how he ended up in that mess.

"Thank you." He huffed, taking shelter behind the trees across the bridge. Kody was probably too busy trying to set a new record for push ups, or something like that, to notice. Punchy looked at me clearly. He must have recognized me, somehow, because a shaky, wide smile broke out on his face. "It's you!" He proclaimed. Please don't let him start dancing and singing like Dotty did yesterday!

But he did. I stood there, embarrassed, bright, pink spots appearing on my cheeks. Some random cat, who I had never even met, was dancing at the sight of me. You couldn't get weirder than that.

"Daisy told me all about you!" He had calmed down, finally. He pulled out a letter. "You're the one who sent me this, Mrmpht." That explained a lot. Daisy, the first neighboring animal I had met, had informed him all about me. The letter I had written for Nook had also included tidbits about me, my name and reason for working anyhow. "A…" He hadn't remembered my name, it seemed.

"Aimee."

"Yeah!" He stuffed the letter in my face. "I enjoyed it, it was funny." It actually wasn't, but I had learnt by now that these animals had a weird sense of humour. My head still stung slightly. "I couldn't wait to meet you, Mrmpht." That was nice to know. Despite his strangeness, Punchy was sweet. He was like a ditzy, male version of Lucy. Maybe I was making another friend.

We walked back to his house. He had offered me some ice tea and some chocolate pudding. I had no idea where he had got that chocolate pudding from, but I wasn't complaining. He was chattering away non stop, even after we had seated ourselves at his blue table, sat upon blue chairs. He went to his green fridge and got the food and drink for us. His house was nice, homely. It smelt of stale food though.

I learnt a few things about him. He enjoyed food, and most of the villagers called him fat or lazy, even though he said he wasn't. Daisy, Dotty (occasionally, he had said) and Lucy were his friends. He liked to sleep, lazing on the beach. He was visited by the pie fairy and the lasagna fairy sometimes (don't ask, I didn't get it either.). He had told me his birthday was in April, and he star sign was Aries (these animals were into this astrology lark). Then he wanted to know all about me. There wasn't much to tell.

"I'm a Libra, birthday is September 29th. Erm…" I paused, what else could I say? I had no favourite hobbies that I could do here. I had never tried to fish or catch a bug, I had no money to buy the equipment. I wasn't fond of gardening, considering I had no shower to clean myself up afterwards. I had seen a museum on the map that I had been planning to visit, but I hadn't had the time. I hadn't seen any way of me doing the hobbies I enjoyed in my world. These animals didn't seem to listen to music, so I couldn't list off the bands or singers I liked. I hadn't seen a TV yet, so I didn't know what shows they had. There wasn't anything to tell about me.

"I'll have to show you my favourite hobbies." Punchy seemed to know what I was thinking about. He sounded sympathetic. "You'll soon have lots to do. We'll go fishing and bug catching and dig up fossils and play hide and seek and plant fruit trees to make an orchard. Or we could make a forest! Mrmpht." I laughed. I couldn't see beyond working effortlessly for Nook. Which reminded me, I had packages for my new friend.

"Here." I handed him a rolled up carpet and a stereo. It appeared they did have music after all. He thanked me and set the stereo on the floor, inserting what looked like a musical note. Upbeat classical music hummed out of the speakers. It was catchy, despite the fact I never had liked classical music before.

"K.K. Slider." He told me. "Plays every Saturday at The Roost." I had no idea what that was. Turns out it was a coffee shop in the museum. "We could go together, if you wanted." I agreed, just to check it out.

I had realized that a few hours had passed since I had been talking to Punchy. Nook must have been wondering where I was, and I still had another delivery to make. I bade farewell to Punchy, who looked saddened to see me go, and hurried off to the next house. On my way, I saw Kody looking around, rather confused, probably searching for Punchy. I stifled back a laugh. It seemed that this town wasn't so bad after all.


	10. Just as things were beginning to look up

**Chapter 10: Just as things were beginning to look up…**

I dumped the bag down and carried the only parcel I had to deliver to the door. I knocked loudly, noticing an orange cat walking around with a shovel. Serial killer sprang to mind. The cats' black shirt had a bone pattern on too. That only increased my suspicion.

I heard grumbles behind the door, grumbles from two different voices. They seemed to be agreeing that it was a pain to be rudely interrupted. Fine, I'll just dump your delivery off here and leave, fine by me. I didn't however. I didn't dare.

"Yes?" A green elephant sighed impatiently, glaring at me. Behind her I could see a koala, giving me an equally hateful stare. They both had an air of smugness, I had a feeling they were rather full of themselves. I couldn't stand people like that, so I wasn't convinced I could stand animals like it either.

"Delivery." I replied, meekly. I felt rather foolish that my voice had decided to back down and cower, letting the elephant and koala think that they were superior. Especially when my mind wasn't. It shouted muted insults that my voice refused to echo. So much for standing up for myself.

"Humph." The elephant stood rather triumphantly over me, or maybe I was just shrinking. I wasn't sure, exactly, of why I was so intimidated by these snobs, but I was. I guess it reminded me of school. They ruled supreme, making my life hell if they wanted, just for the fun of it. It was better if I was deemed invisible. I think that's what my body was trying to do now.

"Who or what is it Opal, Tsk, tsk." The koala, rather rudely, asked, shuffling forward, Her dress didn't suit her. She was a rather bland grey colour and her dress shirt was bright yellow with bright orange criss-cross decorating the bottom. Unusual choice. Mind you, the elephant was no better. She was green, but she was a darkish green. Her clothes were dark too, black or grey, some tartan pattern. Surely if they were all that, they would have heard of coordinating? (Dare me to say that out loud?). She appeared to have bright _blue_ eyeshadow as well.

"Just some delivery person, Snoot." I didn't know if Snoot was the koalas' name, or Opals' phrasey-thing. I wasn't particularly bothered about finding out. All I knew was that I didn't really want to meet these two again. I wasn't sure as to why they were looking down there noses at me (in Opals' case, quite literally!) or if they did that to everyone. All I kept thinking was that I now had another thing to deal with. Bullies. Great.

The door slammed in my face and I heard shrill shrieks of laughter from the closed door. Was my attire or just me in general so amusing? Whatever. I was stuck with more tormentors. I had to suffer through secondary school with them so it seemed highly unfair that I had to now. And I had thought that things were taking a turn for the better too. Nope, the world had decided to keep things balanced out. I wasn't sure how it worked. I had two friends, and two snobs who seemed to think I was beneath them. I had a house, but I had to work to keep it. I occasionally received gifts as a sign of gratitude, but only after I had trekked a-ways to deliver parcels. I had met some freaky characters and had suffered a hit on the head, but I was yet to find an upside to that. I was yet to find a major upside to me being dragged into this crazy place.

I received a mini lecture from Nook as well, once I had arrived back at his shop. It turned out that that stuck-up Opal had marched over here to complain about being kept waiting for a lamp. Apparently she had had plans and had to cancel them, because the new, incompetent delivery girl (me) was incapable of handling a simple task. Which was delivering goods on time. I wasn't aware that I had been given a time limit, or had been told that her delivery was urgent. I just did what the list told me to. Albeit, it had been in my own time.

"…This is not good for business!…" He ranted on, thankfully it was mostly about lowered standards and not about me being inept. I thought I worked rather well, considering all he did was stand at the front of his shop all day, waiting for customers who didn't appear.

"Sorry." I mumbled an apology, mainly just to shut him up. He instantly turned back to his cheery self after that. He issued me with the task of writing a written apology to Opal. And then after that I was supposed to write another advertisement on the bulletin board, outside the Town Hall.

"Oh! And once you have finished, you can take this medicine to Goose, yes." He chirped, stuffing a little bag into my arms. "Kody was supposed to do it, but he got sidetracked by looking for Punchy." I was expecting to be told off by this too, but I realized that no-one (other than me and Punchy) knew that I had been involved with that. "Maybe we should make it a daily thing, until he gets better, hm?" Intent on punishing me, Nook pushed me out of the shop, hurrying me to finish my tasks.

The first one I was absolutely adamant that I wasn't going to do. So much for my 'not making enemies' plan. She and her koala friend seemed set on hating me whether I tried to change it or not. I wrote a letter of apology, and then threw it in the recycling bin. I could always say that I hadn't put it there. As long as Pelly hadn't seen me put it in. I pulled out an item of furniture (a red sofa) to make it look like that was what I had been doing all along. Pelly continued to smile at me, I don't think she suspected.

After, I stood in front of the bulletin board, stuck on what to write. The orange cat with the shovel appeared beside me. It was grinning. I tried to ignore it by picking up the pen, looking like I was busy trying to write. I was, but I couldn't think of what to put. '_Come to Nooks' store, the most boring place on the planet, where you have an annoying shopkeeper follow you until you leave_'? I didn't think so.

"Writing something?" The cat purred. Was it customary to state the obvious here? "I can help, Me-wow." She was swaying about energetically, but she seemed as nice as Lucy and Punchy. Maybe a mix of them, combined with Dotty? Nice and peppy. Couldn't be too hard to handle. At least it wasn't horrible. "I'm Tabby. You're Aimee." I didn't bother asking her how she knew my name. I waited for her to disclose more information, like everyone else usually did, but she said nothing more. Today was full of surprises.

"I have to write an advertisement." I explained. "For Nook." She smiled brightly, like most inhabitants of this town did, and took the pen off of me. She wrote;

'_Nooks' Cranny is awesome. You should shop there. You'll get to buy awesome stuff that changes daily. Nook also buys from you. He buys everything. It really is a convenience store that fits your every need._'

I couldn't be bothered to change it, seeing as I had no bright ideas of my own. I smiled back, in gratitude, and offered her the red couch I had snaffled from the bin. Everyone else seemed to give gifts to return favours, so I thought I'd do the same.

She declined it with a laugh. "Actually, Me-wow, I'm the one who just put that in there." Boy, did that make me look foolish.


	11. One good deed deserves another,

**Chapter 11: One good deed deserves another, but doesn't often get it.**

After leaving Tabby at the bulletin board, I headed down to my house. Originally, I had planned to set up my new furniture and decorate, but as Nook was in a mood, I decided to finish his tasks first. Two down, one to go.

Gooses' house was to the right of mine, right next to the border. I was weary of going to his, I hoped I wouldn't catch his illness. Even before I approached the door and knocked, I could hear horrendous and violent sneeze attacks. Bark-like coughing was booming out of the house too. Goose had a cold.

"Hello." I stuck my head around the door, cautiously. A white chicken was walking around in circles. I didn't see how that would help his cold. Shouldn't he be in bed? Not that I could find one, looking around. He should at least be sat down or laying down on the sofa. Not walking in circles.

He noticed me. Now I could see his face, I noticed that he didn't look ill. Other than the fact that he had a big black swirl, which looked like a rain cloud, hanging above his head, he looked perfectly normal. He didn't seem pleased to see me.

"What are you doing here?!" He squawked, angrily. Charming, don't you think?

I held up the medicine. "For you." I stated, handing it over. He snatched from my grasp, and the next thing I knew, he had taken it.

"Eurgh." He spluttered. I would have felt sorry for him if he hadn't been so mean to me a few minutes before. "That tastes horrible, Buh-kay." He wiped his wings on his shirt, which was dark blue with, what looked like, red flowers on. I stood there and watched, unsure of what to do. He was staring at me, an uncertain look in his eye. "Who are you?" He finally asked.

"Aimee. I'm new." I replied, bluntly. I realized he wouldn't know who I was seeing as he was holed up in his house with a cold. I still didn't want to go through the whole process of explaining who I was, what I was doing etc, though.

"I have to get some rest now." Goose retaliated. No thank you or anything nice like that. I had just done him a favour and this is how he paid me, by kicking me out and being rude!

I left, shaking my head in disbelief. I supposed I should report back to Nook. He smiled at me, the events from earlier all forgotten about. Lets hope he never found out about that letter. He gave me a watering can, on loan, and told me to go and water the dying flowers around town. I had a feeling he had ran out of jobs for me to do and was now just making them up for the sake of it. Before I knew it, I would be catching fish and bugs, just to prove I could.

Lucy came with me. I met up with her outside 'Able Sisters'. She was looking for a new outfit. This reminded me of what Mabel had said about her sister- keep talking to her and she'll come round, or words to that effect. Should I? It couldn't hurt (unless Sable turned physical).

"That's a nice pattern." I observed, looking over Sables' shoulder at the pattern she was sewing. It was a complicated pattern. Almost a tartan pattern, but with random green squares dotted around. Lucy was looking at the clothes, again, probably re-thinking about buying something.

Sable ignored me. She didn't even call for her sister this time. I heard her sigh though.

"I'm Aimee." I tried again.

This time, I did spark a reaction. "I'm busy." She almost growled at me. I could have put her ignoring me down to shyness, but after that comment, I wasn't so sure that was the case. These animals were getting ruder to me. I gave up.

Lucy decided to tell me about each type of flower, as we rambled about town. I stood over every yellow, moulding flower we came across. It appeared that this watering can was filled with an unlimited amount of water, or at least I thought, until I reached the beach and nothing poured out. I walked to the sea and went to fill it up.

"Oh, no!" Lucy cried, suddenly. I looked up, startled. She was running towards me. "Not from there! You have to fill it up from the stream." I didn't bother asking why, I just allowed her to lead me to the stream. Maybe sea salt was bad for the flowers, I didn't know.

A while later we, and Punchy, were in my house. I had been dismissed from work, because Nook couldn't think of anymore chores. He told me to come back tomorrow, bright and early, and that if I had anything to sell, I had to bring it to him. I almost asked, cheekily, if he would give me a discount. I knew he wouldn't. The only things I wanted to buy from the shop today were the shovel, rod and net. Lucy had told me that the museum needed, desperately, donations and that I could find up to three fossils a day by digging. Plus, any fossils I wanted to sell looked good in houses, or were bought for a really good price. She also told me that bugs and fish got more than most furniture too. If I could catch plenty, maybe I could pay off my damn loan that way instead of working.

The three of us were laying the citrus carpet on the floor. It was deep purple, with a citrus fruit, perhaps an orange, displayed, cut in half so you could see the centre. It was better than the stones I had. After that, we put up my new wallpaper. That was a pale colour with a blue trim. It wasn't to my liking, but I preferred it to what I had. Lastly, we replaced the tape deck I already had, with the retro stereo Daisy had given me. It was rather big and looked out of place, but it looked nicer that the tape deck at least. My house was looking nicer.

"Yay, Snooink!" Lucy cheered, when we had finished. Punchy grinned, lazily, setting himself down on the floor. He hadn't helped much, but it was nice to have my friends around me after the day I had. I looked pityingly at the tape deck. I had a feeling that it wouldn't fetch much if I sold it. Lucy had said I needed, roughly, 1,500 Bells if I wanted all three. Where was I going to get that from?

"Sometimes, when I'm low on money, I ask if I can do any jobs for anyone." Punchy informed me. "Or you could sell lots of fruit." Running around doing more chores wasn't appealing, especially as I didn't seem to get on with half of the residents. I guess I had to go around shaking trees till I had enough fruit to sell.


	12. Money making schemes

**Chapter 12: Money making schemes.**

Lucy pulled on my arm before I could even hurry to the trees. She pointed to the sand in front of my house, shells. There was a reddish colour one, like a hermit crabs' shell. I was informed that it was a Dall's Top. Beside it there was another shell. A dirty white colour. It was almost circular, a sunken shape in the middle. I was told, this time by Punchy, that it was a sand dollar. All along the beach these shells clustered. I also found a venus comb and a porceletta.

"You can get rarer shells than that." Lucy enlightened me. Apparently a conch, white scallop or a pearl oyster were less common and sold for more. I hadn't found a single one of those. Damn.

"Never mind. Lets go get those apples." I had figured out, after being told the price each apple would sell for, that I needed fifteen apples to get enough for my shovel, net and rod. Punchy had also said that there were other pieces of equipment that would come in handy. There was the watering can, fairly obvious as to what that was used for, if I wanted to start my own garden. There was a slingshot to pop balloons, that carried presents, out of the sky (odd, but free gifts-I'm not complaining!). And lastly, there was the axe. Used, as you already know, for chopping down the many trees. One thing I didn't know, however, was that after a very short while, the axe broke.

"I just thought of some more ways for you to get money." Lucy chirped, after we had filled our invisible pockets with plenty of apples. I looked at her, very interested. "It's a good way for you to visit some of the other buildings too, and maybe we could show you the museum along the way, Snooink. You mentioned earlier that you wanted to visit!"

Brilliant idea! Hang on… What idea? She hadn't even told me! I liked the part about me visiting the other buildings though. I think that was what had piqued my interest.

We had ended up near Nooks whilst on our expedition for apples. Lucy and Punchy were discussing where they should take me next. I saw Dotty across the river with that dreaded net of hers. She was waving at me, doing her funny little dance. Before I knew it, she had dashed off and, a few minutes later, panting, had approached us.

"Hi, Wee-one!" Musical notes were appearing above her head again. She was so cheery, it was hilarious almost, kinda fascinating, but also rather annoying. Especially when she decided to hit me on the head. "What-cha doing? Can I come? Can I, can I, can I?!?" Lucy and Punchy had been alerted to her presence. I said nothing, this was their trip after all. Punchy grimaced, Dotty clearly grated his nerves too.

"If you must." He had said in reply. Then he went back to debating with Lucy. They both wanted to show me different places first. It seemed Dotty wasn't included in the decision, she was just tagging along.

"Where are we going?" She asked them, loudly, might I add. When they didn't answer immediately, she turned to me. "Oooh, can we play hide-and-seek, Wee-one? Or catch some bugs? Oh! I know! Lets follow Kody and hit him on the back of the head with our nets, Wee-one!" I was glad to see I wasn't the only one she had hit intentionally. I was quick to point out, though, that I had no net to do the last two activities.

"Perhaps later, Snooink." Lucy eyed Dotty's net wearily. Good thinking, as Dotty was practically levitating with happiness. "We're going to the Police Station first." They had chosen. Personally, Lucy's way had made more sense- straight down to the beach where the Police Station was situated, then across the stream to the museum and then finally back across to the Town Hall and Nook's to sell our findings. It didn't stop Punchy from sulking a little, though.

"Ok, ok, ok." Dotty chirped, happily enough. She linked her arm with mine and forced me to skip down the hill with her. She seemed quite taken with me now, at least it was better than being hit on the head or some random other attack.

On the way we passed Tabby, still looking rather serial-killer-ish with her shovel out. Looking for fossils, I now understood. She nodded in acknowledgement at us, grinning slightly at me. It was then that I remembered the sofa I had offered her- her sofa.

"Erm, guys?" Lucy and Dotty looked confused by that figure of speech. Clearly it wasn't something they had heard before. "And girls." I added, hastily. The happy looks were back. "I have another piece of furniture to put in my house first, if that's ok?" The red sofa took up most of the side underneath the window, but it looked quite nice.

We were at the Police Station, shortly after. A dog in a police uniform, complete with cap, was stood next to a map of our town. He (I assumed he was a he) was rather tall and thin, mainly white, with the top part of his head brown. He also had a brown tail.

He stood to attention when we arrived, even saluting. "Good afternoon." He barked.

"This is Copper." Lucy explained, as Dotty just giggled at him. Copper nodded, hearing his name. "This, Copper, is Aimee, she's new."

"Pleasure to meet you Aimee." Copper didn't shift in his stance. I returned the complimentary greeting and followed the others inside. There was another dog, also in uniform, inside, exactly the same as the one outside, except this one was shorter and tubbier. He was slouched over, instead of standing up straight and was puffing and panting from the short jog he had taken to greet us.

"Erm… We have some items in the lost and found…" He mumbled. "…You can take as many as you want… I think…" He trailed off.

"That's Booker." Lucy whispered to me as Dotty set off into another fit of giggles. "He's a bit… Dozy, Snooink." I took that into consideration. I then spotted three items at the back of the room- two shirts and an item of furniture. I walked over to them.

"Oh, that's a big star shirt, so would that be yours? Booker asked, the others nodded vigorously at me, behind his back.

I looked down at the shirt, it was purple with a big yellow star sewn on. "Yes." I told him and turned to the next item. We repeated this until I had ended up with the other shirt, a rainbow shirt (no description needed) and the furniture, a claw-foot tub. Finally, I could wash.

"You've.. err… claimed quite a few items there." He mumbled, nervously. I grew worried. "That's not a problem… I think." I smiled, relieved and left. Copper saluted us again as we left.

"Now you've got more things to sell, Mrmpht!" Punchy cheered.

"Yeah…" I looked sheepish. "The thing is, I'd actually like to keep all of the things I just found." The others laughed, reassuring me that it wasn't a problem. After all, my house needed filling too.

After putting my new things in my house, the shirts on wooden mannequin things as I had no wardrobe and the bath wouldn't fit upstairs, so was in the right corner near the door, we headed off to the museum. Dotty had calmed down quite a bit, I was starting to like her. Punchy stuck close to my side too, happily chatting away. Lucy was in front, leading our little troop.

We passed Lobo, he was sitting on the bank, fishing. We waved to him, but he ignored us. Nice. We also spotted Kody doing ab-crushers, it seemed he had forgotten all about Punchy, thankfully.

The museum was behind another house. I hadn't visited this one. It must have been the koala-who-couldn't-coordinate-her-clothes-properly' s house. I wasn't looking forward to seeing her or that elephant, Opal, again. We passed the house and entered the museum. It was big. There was an owl, dark brown in colour, asleep in the middle of, what I assumed was, the entrance hall. There was a clock behind him, and some stairs going up, to the left of the clock, which had a sign beside with a picture of some stars.

'_Second Floor_

_See the stars from Animal Crossing Observatory._'

It read. Upstairs was the observatory. Directly to the left of the owl was an opening, a red mat in front of it. There was a picture on the mat, something that looked like the Mona Lisa. I guessed that led to an art gallery. To the right of the clock was another opening, another red mat in front. This one had a picture of a butterfly, presumably a bug exhibit. Directly to the right of the owl was, yet, another opening and red mat. A dinosaur picture on this one. Fossils. Lastly, there were two more openings directly to the left and right of the entrance. The right also had a red mat, this one had a fish on. No doubt, a fish exhibit. And the left, stairs going down and a sign that had a picture of a cup of coffee, writing below it.

'_As the name implies…_

_We offer you respite._

_-The Roost-_'

So, that was the coffee place Punchy had told me about.


	13. The Museum

**Chapter 13: The Museum.**

"Blathers!" Dotty shouted, her voice booming around the room, as it bounced off the walls and floor. Punchy, Lucy and I quickly covered our ears. The owl, known as Blathers, awoke with a squawk.

"Zzzzzz.. Hooooooo… ZWAAAAAAAAAAAAAWK!" He spluttered. Dotty chortled. "Terribly sorry!" He had calmed down and was now apologizing profoundly. "I get so frightfully tired during the day, Wot! So, by the by, might there be something with which I can assist you?"

"Actually, we were just showing Aimee around, Wee-one." Dotty smiled sweetly, was that her way of apologizing?

"Oh. Oh, never mind." Blathers sighed, he didn't seem very happy. I had a feeling that it wasn't about Dotty shouting at him to wake up, either.

"What's wrong with Blathers?" I asked, following Dotty into the first room, it was an art gallery. This room was larger than the entrance hall, Rows and rows of walls stuck out, indents in them, where paintings were supposed to be hung. Red velvet rope roped them off so they couldn't be touched. Except, there was nothing to be touched, for there was only one painting, right at the back.

'_Worthy Painting._

_**Donor: **__Opal._'

"She's been trying to fill it for a while now." Lucy explained, meaning Opal.

"Doesn't help when Redd sells her counterfeit paintings." Punchy chipped in. What was Redd and why was he/she selling fake paintings? I was about to ask, but they pulled me out of the room and into the bug exhibit.

That room was even larger and actually led off into another room of the same size, both making up the exhibit. The interior was dramatically different too. There were many different platforms, all covered in grass, just like some parts of the floor, and some had flowers, trees or even rocks and ponds on. All of the plaques, that were on the platforms, read:

'_Awaiting exhibit. Thank you for your co-operation._'

It was completely empty. I opened my mouth to ask all sorts of questions, but I was dragged from one room to the next. I was greeted by another empty room, the whole bug display was empty. Again I tried to speak.

"Wait!" Dotty ordered, and I was led into the next gallery. The fossil one. This room, too, had many different platforms with plaques on. It also had an extra room at the back and stairs leading up to a balcony of sorts, where there was a huge, empty glass case. The only fossil in the exhibit was a incomplete dinosaur, right near the entrance. The head of a Triceratops. I knew better than to speak this time. There was one more show room left, I think I knew what was going on.

Again, two separate rooms for the same exhibit. The first room was filled with colossal tanks full of water, rocks and water plants. The second room had just one tank, even bigger than the rest. It was built into the wall and had even more plants. It looked like what the bottom of an ocean may look like. The tank for sea fish.

Every single one of the tanks were empty, the plaques reading exactly what the bug ones did.

"As you can see, the museum is very empty, Mrmpht." Punchy said, sadly.

"We need your help, Wee-one!"

"Everyone here in Animal Crossing wants to help Blathers fill the museum." Lucy explained more thoroughly. "Opal is trying to complete the art gallery, Lobo wants to catch all the fish, and the rest are trying to help too.."

"…But everyone gets sidetracked." Dotty's ears drooped, it was weird seeing her sad. I wasn't sure if I preferred her hyper or like this. "Lobo wants to keep the fish and catch the biggest one to win the tourney…" I wasn't going ask yet, one crisis was enough for now. "…Opal and Yuka want the paintings for their houses and keep getting ripped off by Redd…" So Yuka was the koalas' name. I preferred Snoot- it summed her up. "…And everyone who digs up fossils either keeps them for their own gain or sells them to pay off their loan!" Dotty cried. Almost literally, it was getting creepy.

"Please help us Aimee." Punchy looked equally sad, my heart was breaking at the sight of their, usually cheery, now crestfallen, faces.

I found myself agreeing to help them catch all the fish and bugs, buy all the paintings and dig up all the fossils, completely forgetting all about my aim to escape this town as soon as I could. I remembered this later, and felt immensely guilty, I was in two minds as to stay.

I had also forgotten that I had no idea how to fish or catch bugs (I hadn't figured it was as simple as swinging a net-literally!) And I had no idea as to where I could buy paintings. What if I bought a fake one too? How would I tell?

But seeing the look on their faces, once I had promised to help, suddenly made me determined to learn. Their happy little (ok, huge) smiles were back and all three of them were dancing and singing joyfully, those colourful musical notes back. I was used to seeing that from Dotty, but not Punchy and Lucy. It was weird, but also rather…nice. I had made them happy and it felt fantastic. All I needed now, was to get myself happy. Not content, not settled, but really happy. Like I belonged. Accepting the inevitable, accepting that I had to stay here.

I was getting there.

We headed up to the observatory next. It was a tiny circular room with a few bookshelves, a desk, with bits and bobs on, a chair and a huge telescope. A small, reddish-brown owl was stood next to the telescope, watching us nervously. I presumed the owl was female, as she was wearing a big pink bow on her head.

"Welcome to Animal Crossing's observatory." She twittered, smiling sweetly. "Hootie-toot? Can I help you with something?"

"Celeste, this is Aimee." Dotty bounded over to the telescope, whilst Lucy introduced us. She gazed into it, obviously looking at the sky. I thought it was slightly too early for any stars, though.

"You can spot constella-thingies with this." She said, Punchy giggled.

"Constellations." Celeste corrected her. Not that that deterred Dotty.

Not long after, we headed down to the coffee place. It was bigger than the observatory. But still smaller than the exhibit rooms. There was a stage at the back, a piano and some speakers perched on it. A table and chairs were to the side. And, next to the door, was a counter and stools. Behind the counter was various equipment for coffee making and a greenish coloured pigeon.

"Coffee?" Lucy asked, pulling a few small, yellow coins from her pocket.

"Erm…ok?" I've never really had an acquired taste for coffee, even the smell repulsed me, but I thought maybe it was different here. We sat ourselves down on the stools in front of the counter and Lucy ordered coffees for herself, Punchy and I. Dotty declined, I secretly agreed that she didn't need any caffeine kick, she was hyper already.

"The coffee may seem a tad expensive at…two-hundred Bells a cup, but it's well worth it." The pigeon seemed to be addressing just me. I guess the others knew this already. Once Lucy had paid, the pigeon stopped wiping a cup with a cloth and got three clean ones from beneath the counter. He filled them all up with coffee and passed them to us. "Alright then, before it gets cold… One fresh-brewed cup… Enjoy." I looked at it, the smell made my nose wrinkled, but I covered it up well. It was steaming, clearly very hot.

"Brewster's coffee is the best." Punchy purred and then drank his coffee in one gulp. Lucy, on my other side, did the same. I brought the cup to my lips and forced myself to gulp it down. It was different alright, it was much stronger and ten times more disgusting. Eurgh. I wasn't going to try that again.


	14. Fishing lessons

**Chapter 14: Fishing lessons.**

The four of us left, just as evening was setting in. Lucy had invited us round for dinner, I happily accepted, I was glad that I would be having something other than an apple. Punchy happily accepted too, any excuse for food. To my surprise, Dotty declined. She made her excuses, by saying that she wanted to try and catch some bugs. It probably wasn't an excuse.

We waved goodbye to her when we reached the wishing well. She headed off to her house whilst we headed to the Town Hall. Lucy had mentioned that the recycling bin was used to get rid of unwanted stuff and anyone could help themselves. I had thought you could only get stuff in moderation, I was wrong. Lucy said you had to be quick, most of the residents checked everyday. In addition to the red sofa, I had found earlier, there had been a wallpaper, carpet and some clothes. When Lucy, Punchy and I arrived back, however, it was a different story.

We peered into the empty bin, slightly dismayed. We only had the few apples and shells to sell. It was better than nothing, but it wouldn't fetch much. I sold all mine for one thousand and seven-hundred Bells. It meant I could buy the shovel, rod and net and I still had two-hundred left over.

"You should start a bank account, Mrmpht!" Punchy suggested, and after dinner, I did exactly that.

It was just turning nine when I headed back up to the Town Hall. We had spent a fair few hours at Lucys', eating banoffee pie and some blue cheese salad. I had never had either before. I didn't think much of the banoffee pie or the blue cheese, but the salad was nice. We also spent much time discussing the other animals who lived in town, Tom Nook, Pelly, some other pelican called Pete, another pelican called Phyllis, Mabel and Sable among them.

"Ugh, a customer…" A purple pelican, obviously Phyllis, was at the counter, instead of Pelly. I guessed they switched for the night shift. Lucy and Punchy had told me, more like **warned **me, that Phyllis was completely different to Pelly. She was rude, impatient and snippy. She liked to mutter under her breath, probably berating her customers. Her description reminded me of Opal.

Like Opal, Phyllis also wore make up that didn't suit her. The same bright blue eyeshadow was back, looking more in place on Phyllis than on Opal, but still weird. Phyllis also had dark purple blusher on. That, definitely, didn't go with the bright purple colour she was.

"This is the town post office, what do you want?" She sighed, sounding snippy. Already? Jeez…

"I'd like to set up an account." I pulled out the bag of money I had on me.

"You mean savings account?" Of course, what else? I nodded. Phyllis sighed again, as she got things set up for me, the mutterings had started. "_Leave me alone already!_" She took the money from me. "Your balance is fifty-billion Bells! Just kidding! It's actually two-hundred." She laughed, rather viciously. She sneered at me when I didn't laugh back and, then, adopted an even more poisonous tone to her attitude. "What is it?! What else?! _Hurry up already…_"

"Erm, nothing."

"Fine, don't let the door hit your tail on the way out! _Quit loitering and shoo_!" I didn't know if that was a saying, or if she actually thought I had a tail. It didn't matter, I just wanted to get out of the way. I left hurriedly and bumped, literally, into Lobo.

"OOF! WATCH IT!" He growled. "Oh, it's you, Aimee." He looked me up and down, almost scrutinizing me, often muttering something. "You'll do." He said, eventually.

"Excuse me?" I may have been getting used to their rude behaviour, but it didn't mean that I had to like it.

"Dotty told me you wanted to help with the fish exhibit, Ah-rooo. She also told me that you didn't know how to fish. I suppose I'll _have_ to help you." The way he spoke, it was like I had asked for his help, and that I was being a complete burden by asking. Like he was doing me a favour. I didn't want any half-hearted favours, I could manage alone. "Come on then!"

I jumped. I hadn't noticed that Lobo was already walking over to the stream, expecting me to follow. I sighed, irritably, and followed. I felt that I had no choice.

We ended up at the stream by Nook's. Lobo told me to get my rod out ready and look for black shadows. He spotted one before I did and cast his rod into the water, inches away from the black thing. It looked more like a tadpole than a shadow to me.

"Now we wait, Ah-rooo." Lobo uttered, quietly. The tadpole-shadow thing approached Lobo's bobber cautiously and, without warning, rushed straight at it. Lobo didn't react. I felt like shouting at him to pay attention, but, to my amazement, the bobber didn't go under, instead the fish attacked it a few more times, before finally deciding to pull it under. That's when Lobo reacted. He hauled it up instantly and an ugly little, black fish was dangling at the end. I felt sick, my dinner jolting in my stomach. Thankfully, it decided to stay down.

"You have to be patient, if you want to fish." Lobo warned, putting his rod, and the fish, away. "Be careful not to reel the fish in at the first bite. You'll end up scaring it away. There are different types of shadow, indicating different types of fish-tiny, small, medium and large. You can also find fish in the sea. Fish all year round, weather and season changes bring a change of fish too." This sounded like a lecture, I wished I had a notebook. "Got all of that?" I nodded. "Good. Hopefully you will help fill the exhibit up in no time, Ah-rooo."

"How come you don't donate any fish?" As soon as I had asked, I wished I hadn't. The look Lobo gave me was rather murderous. The phrase- 'don't shoot the messenger' sprang to mind.

"What makes you think I don't?!"

"I-it's empty." I stammered. "And Dotty said you keep the fish you catch."

"Hmmm…" His expression softened a little, his eyes stopped glaring. "I suppose I do keep quite a few fishy pets. Alright then…" He dug the fish back out of his pocket and stuffed it in mine. It shocked me, the fact that a live creature was in my pocket and the fact that it could survive. "…Give that fish to the museum from me. Make sure you said I donated it though. I'll make no promises, but I'll try to give more to the museum. I do like to keep fish as pets." He gave a little chuckle, looking a lot more approachable than I had seen him.

I promised him I would donate the fish and say it was from him, and started to set off, to do so. He stopped me before I could get too far. " Donate lots of fish to the museum, Aimee." He said, looking slightly concerned now. He was obviously determined to see it complete, just like the rest. Maybe he hadn't realized how much so. "Do so and you may gain my respect, Ah-rooo."

I hurried to the museum, feeling quite tired. Come tomorrow morning, I would be working again. And I was expected to do some fishing too. And find out about fossils, paintings and catching bugs. So much to do.

"Hello again." Blathers greeted me, as I entered the museum. I pulled out the fish from my pocket, it was slimy, eurgh. "Can I help you?"

"I'd like to donate something, on behalf of Lobo."

"If Lobo wants to donate something, he'll have to come here himself."

"Oh… Ok, _I'd_ like to donate something."

"One can only feverishly wonder what you wish to donate! Woo hoot!" Ok, that was weird, but I handed over the slimy fish, regardless. I'd have to stay out of Lobos' way for a while, but I hoped he'd understand that _I _had to be the donator. "Ah, a crucian carp, if I'm not utterly mistaken." He examined the fish carefully. "Did you know, crucian carp, unlike normal carp, lack whiskers?" I didn't and I didn't particularly care. Fish didn't appeal to me in any way. " This little fellow will be safe with us, Wot. I assure you we will take very good care of him. We thank you, so much, for your kind donation." He seemed to have perked up a bit. "Is there anything else that you would like to donate?" I shook my head, he thanked me again and I hurried off to my house.

Waiting outside for me was, surprisingly, Kody.


	15. Bugs!

**Chapter 15: Bugs! **

I rolled my eyes, I just wanted to go to bed, and, if possible, write another letter to my mum. But, it appeared, I had to make small talk with a bear, one who was here, outside my house, probably to make me do some exercise.

"W-what… are you… doing here?" I half yawned, half puffed. Kody, who was sat on my door-mat, got up and walked towards me. He didn't look too happy, had he realized it was me who had saved Punchy from his workout?

"Where is it, Grah-grah?!" I was at a loss, it?

"Where's wh-"

"I know you have it! I go into Nook's, straight after my jog, and find it… gone! So, where is it?!" Was he talking about the shovel, or the net, or the fishing rod? Surely he could just get another one tomorrow? "Poor Goose, how is going to get better without his medicine, Grah-grah?" Hang on, I knew what this was about…

"Goose? This is what all this is about?" I almost started laughing, but thought better of it. I didn't want to anger Kody even more. "Goose has had his medicine, I gave it to him. Tom Nooks' orders. He'll be fine."

Kody looked stunned. His anger evaporated and his expression changed to a confused one. "You?" He asked. I nodded. "You gave Goose his medicine?"

"Yes, on Nooks' orders."

"Oh." Kody smiled. "That's good." He walked off, leaving me standing there, dazed. I recovered, sometime after, and went inside. I had no post, no reply from my mum, but there was always tomorrow. I sat down on my new sofa, it was pretty comfy, and started writing a new letter.

'_Mum, _

_I'm still here, in the town of Animal Crossing. I haven't figured how to get home, yet. I may be some time, however. I've made some friends- Lucy, Dotty and Punchy. I've promised to help them fill the museum with all sorts of wonderful things. Like you tend to say- a promise is a promise- I have to stick to my word. I don't know how long it will take, but until then, I can't come home. I'm sorry, mum. This is my only means of communication, and I will write everyday. Whether or not they reach you, still remains to be seen. I hope you're not worrying too much. _

_Aimee. X_'

Not long after, I fell asleep.

*

The next morning, I finally got a chance to wash. I was surprised, at first, to find that the tub worked, despite the fact that it wasn't connected to any plumbing, but I soon got over that. After all, normal things were unusual in this place, and unusual things were considered normal.

One thing I had forgotten all about, was a towel. Somehow, though, as soon as I stepped out, I was dry. I put on my work uniform, noticing it smelt a little odd, and made a mental note to find a washing machine. Even if it meant I had to do jobs for the other villagers.

"Nice and early, that's what we like to see, hm?" Nook was even cheerier today. Perhaps he was glad to see me, or maybe it was because he had been lumbered with a lot of work in my absence and needed me to do it. "I have a few jobs today. Some packages to deliver, some more gardening chores, amongst others, yes."

No. I wished I had the guts to say it to the lazy racoon.

I had three deliveries today- Goose, with his medicine and some furniture. Tabby, also some furniture. And Yuka. The snob. I set off to the closest, which was Tabby, dragging the bag behind me.

As usual, she wasn't in. I trudged all over the town, looking for her, but no avail. I rolled my eyes, slightly annoyed. I had wanted to go home as soon as possible, check my mail, perhaps catch some fish and fill the museum up quickly. Now, as it seemed, I had to try and find Tabby.

I wasn't sure of who to ask. I didn't know who her friends were. I didn't actually know anything about her, except where she lived. She didn't seem the type to hang around with two snobs, and Punchy and Lucy didn't hang around with her, they would have told me. Maybe Daisy would know, or Dotty?

"I'm sorry." Daisy said, when I went round to hers to ask. "I don't know where Tabby may be. I've been busy tending to my house." I thanked her anyway and then set off to Goose's house, Tabby would have to wait. I dropped off the medicine and furniture, rather quickly to avoid getting ill, and left again, without another thank you. Another rude neighbour. At least Kody, who was visiting Goose at the time, was being nicer to me. Probably to make up for last night.

Next was Yuka. Hopefully she wasn't with Opal again. She wasn't. She opened the door, with a grumpy look on her face, and glared at me. She looked rather sleepy, I think I woke her up. Whoops.

"And what do you want, Tsk, tsk?" She wasn't so full of herself first thing in the morning, but her voice still had that edge to it.

"Delivery." I gave her her stuff.

"You're the new girl." I didn't exactly class myself as 'new' anymore, but we had never properly met. I nodded, she probably knew my name, unless no-one else spoke to her and Opal. But even then Nook would have told them my name when they complained about me. "I'm Yuka. I don't appreciate being woken up early, Tsk, tsk. And I prefer my deliveries on time!" I bit my tongue and turned to leave. "Nice to meet you, Aimee." She called after me. Nice? Yeah right!

I still couldn't find Tabby, so I headed back to Nook's. He was grinning at me, almost laughing. "You have some visitors." He chuckled. I know it wasn't possible, but the first person who sprang to mind was my mum. I felt excited, maybe my mum could live here too (oh my god, how sad was that? :P). But, it was actually just Dotty and Tabby. So this is where she had been.

"We've come to teach you about bugs, Me-wow." She waved her net, nearly clipping me around the head. I ducked, just in time.

"Normally I wouldn't allow it." Nook looked rather stern, I had never seen his face so serious, he was normally full of smiles and cheer, too much of it. "But Dotty informs me it is for a good cause. I still have a lot of work for you to do, but I suppose I could give you some time off. I want you back by two o'clock." If I remembered correctly, the big clock at the station had said it was just approaching midday. So that gave me two full hours.

"Lets go!" Dotty cheered. I had my doubts, working with her and her dreaded net. Tabby seemed equally enthused, still swinging her own net joyfully. We walked down to Tabby's house, where there was some trees, flowers and a pond. Some butterflies were flying around and some locusts were chirping nearby.

"Firstly, bugs are found in many different places." Dotty giggled, aware that she was sounding like a lecturer. Tabby giggled too, it was then that I realized she was very similar to Dotty, she could just hide it better. "In the trees, on the trees, around garbage, on flowers, underground, near light, in the air and, lastly, Wee-one, they are found on us, the villagers. Perhaps, not you though." She giggled again, finding it funny that she and the other animals were able to get fleas. I found it gross.

"They are all caught by net." Tabby stated the obvious, swinging her net and successfully catching a butterfly. I found it impressive for something that wasn't intentional. "Just swing and catch simple. Some bugs are fast, and others scare easily." They spent the rest of the two hours explaining everything they knew about which bugs came out in which seasons and which ones scared easily and where to find each bug. It was a lot to take in.

After two hours, we headed back. I had almost forgotten about Tabby's parcels. I handed them to her and she gave me the bug she had caught, in return. "Give it to the museum." She told me.

I would, but first I had the rest of my jobs to face.


	16. Its a dirty job,but someone has to do it

_Note- I was so happy that you've all taken the time to review my story, so I thought I would thank you all personally as part of my story. xPikachu-Princessx, EssenceOfPhlegm, and GodessAerith, thank you all so much for even reading my story :P You all rock!_

**Chapter 16: It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.**

Nook didn't seem to notice that I had slipped in late. He was humming cheerfully to himself, checking his stock. I cleared my throat, making my presence known. He turned to face me and bundled some flowers into my arms.

"Opal wanted someone to make a nice garden for her, I thought you could help, yes?" It was a rhetorical question, but I wanted to answer. Not the answer he wanted either.

I was outside Opals' door, in two minds as to just get on with the job, or to knock and inform her. If she was in that is. I thought it would be best to tell her, then she could tell me how she wanted her garden. I had a feeling she wouldn't be satisfied with my work.

"I wanted the roses over here…" I had gathered the courage to knock on her door and alert her to my help. She had looked at me rather scornfully, a look full of disgust. She hadn't been happy that I was the one helping her, but she had settled for it. She had taken bossing me around in her stride.

It had taken me just over an hour to plant the roses under her windows. She had wanted a row of yellow, red, white, red, etc. For a while, every hole I had dug wasn't to her standards. But, I was finally done. With the roses.

"Tulips, I want them at the bottom of my garden…" I set to work straight away. After that she wanted cosmos down the left side and pansies down the right. It was pretty hot for mid-autumn and I had started to sweat. I was covered in dirt and my back ached. This job was no easy task, I hoped Nook was taking a huge chunk off of my loan for this. The lazy elephant was reclining on a deck chair, parasol protecting her from the heat, drinking something that looked like ice-tea or lemonade. She hadn't offered me any.

It took me around three hours for me to finish everything according to Opal's standards. The heat was dying down by then and a nice breeze was floating in the air. I was achy and dirty and tired. And I still had more jobs to do.

"Hmm, I suppose I'm satisfied, Snoot." Opal looked around her garden, taking off her sunglasses to get a better look. "Good work, Aimee." I nodded, at a loss of what to say. I didn't feel like being pleasant. Better to say nothing, than something horrible. "Here is your reward." She handed me a shirt. It was yellow and checked. It actually looked quite nice. "I don't suppose Nook lets you wear normal clothes…" She sounded like she was trying to sympathize. "…But if he does, that lemon gingham would look good on you."

I was shocked. Opal was being…nice? "T-thanks" I murmured. I stood up shakily, as my back had seized up, and smiled briefly. "I best be off."

"Ah, finally!" Nook looked up at my return and handed me a scrubbing brush. "My shop is well over-due a clean." A bucket and a mop were put down by my feet. I didn't like where this conversation was going. "Try not to take too long, hm. My shop closes at ten o'clock sharp." I felt insulted at his insinuation. It wouldn't take me five hours to clean a small, albeit dingy and very grubby, shop!

I set to work immediately, wanting to get it over and done with. Hard labour was not my forte, I realized, as my back clicked and throbbed in protest. I was absolutely petrified of spiders, I have been all my life, and was mortified when I came face to face with the biggest cobweb I had ever seen. The spider was sitting at the top of the web, and if it could grin, I swear it was. _Mmm, food._

Ok, I know a spider couldn't eat me, but a few days ago I thought animals couldn't walk or talk or even act like humans. I took out my net and _WHAM_! I had only intended to squish it, but to my amazement, I caught it! Eurgh, the thought of it in my pocket, squirming. Blergh.

Surprisingly, cleaning the shop only took a couple of hours. Nook was amazed too, he clearly had expected the job to last longer. "I'm afraid that's all the work I had planned for you." He admitted, sheepishly. "You can take the rest off the day off, hm. By the looks of things you need to, uh, freshen up." He laughed. I was aware I had dirt on my dress top and probably over my body too. I had dust in my hair and I was all clammy from the sweat. I probably smelt too.

The evening air hit my face, refreshingly. I breathed it in and headed home. Well, I started to head home. I don't think it would come as a surprise to you anymore that someone stopped me. I was getting used to that.

"Aimee…" The timid tone, however, was a shock. I guess I was apprehensive around Yuka, because she hung around Opal, and Opal was such a snob to me. I expected Yuka to be the same, especially after telling me off this morning. "Opal sent me to thank you for agreeing to help with the museum." It was then that I gathered that Yuka must act high and mighty due to peer pressure, yes, they had that here too. On the surface she was as snooty and stuck up as Opal, but inside, she was just like Dotty or Punchy, I guess.

Or was it just a trick?

"Seeing as Crazy Redd isn't in town, I thought I could show my appreciation by showing you where fossils are." She looked pointedly at my attire. "It seems you're dressed for the occasion anyway." She laughed, cruelly.

That's right, mock me for doing some hard graft. It's more than most of the animals here have done.

"Anyway, Tsk, tsk…" Yuka walked off, leading the way. As to where we were going, I had no idea. She stared at the floor, looking for something. After a while of doing this, my neck added to my list of pains. I straightened up, rubbing my neck, and bumped straight into Yuka.

"Ow…!" More pain, great.

"Watch it, Tsk, tsk." Yuka turned to glare at me and then pointed down to the floor. My suspicions were flaring up. "When you see a star-like shaped crack on the floor, this means something is hidden there." She said. I waited for her to dig, but she kept talking instead. "Sometimes it is a fossil to be identified at the museum. I, myself, am not particularly interested in those. Sometimes you find gyroids…"

"Gyroids?"

She sighed, clearly irritated at being interrupted. "Yes, gyroids, Tsk, tsk. They're wooden figures that make noises and move. Anyway… Sometimes you find them, that's what I'm interested in, so give any you find to me. Lastly, Tsk, tsk, you can find pitfalls. Perhaps I'll show you what they are later." There was a strange gleam in her eye. "Get digging then!"

I should have known I had to do the hard work. I drew out my shovel and dug dead on the crack. A small hole formed and the earth dissolved away as usual. In the hole was a small round rock, blue in colour. It had a white swirl on the face of the rock, the one that pointed upwards, and beside it a white star. A fossil.

"Well done, well done, Tsk, tsk. You can keep that and give it to the museum." Yuka smiled, it looked genuine enough. We spent a few more minutes looking for more, in the same area. Yuka wandered off towards the border, I stayed by the river. She called to me soon after and was pointing at another crack. As I walked closer, getting my shovel ready to dig, I felt her paws graze my back and try to push me. Eh? I was confused, why was she getting violent? Had they all conspired against me and were now trying to kill me? Was this the first attempt?

I wheeled round when I first felt her paws. She had an evil grin on her face. I did the first thing that came to mind- move. I moved to the left, suddenly, causing her to stumble forward.

"Oh!" She cried. She set foot on the crack in the ground and it instantly opened up as a hole, engulfing half of Yuka's body. She looked frightened and angry, little beads of water appearing on her head. Sweat? "Help me!" She cried. She appeared to be stuck. So that was a pitfall.

I stared at her feeling quite smug. She had tried to push me in that and I was betting that she had planned on leaving me to struggle. So, now I was faced with a dilemma. Do I leave her there to struggle and run off laughing at her comeuppance? Or do I become the better person and help her up?

_A/N- I think I'll leave it to my wonderful readers to decide Yuka's fate, Lol. I'll wait a week. Get choosing. : )_


	17. Crazy Redd

_A/n- I would just like to say thank you to xPikachu-Princessx for choosing Yuka's fate Lol. I completely agree with your choice : )_

_Also, just another quick note- if you like pokemon, please check out my other fanfic and let me know what you think, I could do with some reviews, good or bad. That is, if you want. Anyway, thanks again xPikachu-Princessx for choosing, and as always, enjoy. : )_

**Chapter 17: Crazy Redd.**

I wanted to be the better person, I really did. But part of me was still angry at the fact that Yuka was going to push me first. So angry in fact that I took one last look at her struggling and rushed off to the museum, leaving her there.

I did feel guilty, believe me. Mainly because I didn't want everyone to hate me. What would they think of me now? I also felt guilty because I wasn't the type of person to leave someone to struggle, regardless of whether they deserved it or not. I was surprised at myself.

I told myself I didn't need to feel guilty, she was going to do the same. She was going to leave me to struggle and run off laughing. At least I didn't laugh. … Great, mental arguments were back.

Shaking all of my thoughts away, I entered the museum. Blathers was awake this time, being as it was around eight o'clock at night. He smiled at me in acknowledgement. "Can I help you?" I handed him the fossil I was still clutching. He looked at it frowning. "Hoo my! What have we here? This fossil has yet to be properly identified! If you would like, I'd be happy to identify it for you, Wot?" I had no idea fossils had to be identified, I just thought they materialized from the fossil.

I still hadn't answered, Blathers was staring at me, waiting patiently. I nodded. He studied the fossil carefully for a few minutes. "Ah. Hm. Yes. Hoo. Indeed. Hmmmmmmm… Fascinating…" He uttered, during his study. "Hoo, this particular sample was a challenge to identify, but I'm now confident this is an ankylo tail! Indeed it is, hoo! I thank you for your generosity and accept your gracious donation! Wouldn't it be marvelous if other parts were found before long?" He stuck the, now uncovered, fossil in his pocket. " You have our deepest, most profound gratitude. Is there anything else you would like to show me, perhaps?"

I dug out the copper butterfly. Some how it had managed to encase itself in a glass container whilst being in my pocket. When I handed it over, I saw Blathers shudder. "Ah. What have we here?" He swallowed. "A monarch, if I'm not utterly mistaken? Please don't bother taking it out of its cage! Protocols, you know, Wot?" He shuddered again. I had no intention of letting the butterfly out, so I had no idea what had prompted him to say that. "I'm a bit squeamish about insects, you see, and I don't fancy touching one. Butterflies are covered in 'scales' that flake off like dust when touched, eh wot? Blech… The very thought makes my eyebrows itch unbearably…" Another useless tidbit of information. I listened to him drone on, handed him the spider too (my god, his trembles got a lot worse once I did) and then left.

I had a letter in my mailbox. I was so amazed that I stared at it for a while instead of actually retrieving it. Eventually, I pulled myself together. I tore off the envelope and read. It was from Kody, telling me about his birthday, the day before mine. My hopes, which were all buzzing around with excitement a few seconds ago, had now vanished, leaving me feeling disappointed. Why hadn't my mum replied?

I entered my house, wrote another letter, just to make me feel better, took another bath and stumbled up to bed.

*

God was I stiff, when I awoke the next morning. My whole body throbbed, protesting against movement. I hoped against all hope that I wouldn't have to do any tasks that required bending over.

My work dress top stank, I couldn't wear that. I still had no washing machine, I was too tired and busy to look for one yesterday. I decided I would have to wear something else, I had no choice. I chose the lemon gingham Opal had given me, as a sign of peace… hopefully.

On my way to Nook's, I spotted a big green tent near Goose's house. An orange fox was stood outside, wearing an apron similar to Nook's. He grinned at me, a grin that said; '_new meat._' However, when I got nearer he acted suspicious. "Whoa, do I know you? Crazy Redd doesn't know you, only members may enter. Come back when you've got the password." He ushered me away. So that was Crazy Redd.

"Morning, morning." Nook, as always, beamed at me, thrusting the usual bag in my arms. Then he paused, staring at me, his eyes wide. "What are you wearing? Why are you not wearing your work clothes?! Is the uniform I've chosen for my employees so unpleasant to wear?"

"N-no… I-I…" I stammered, trying to tell him that my uniform was filthy, but Nook wasn't listening.

"I say! Kids these days, thinking every day should be casual Friday… but I can't be a dinosaur in the modern day, can I? Wear what you want." And just like that, he had calmed down. I was shocked.

"Erm… ok?"

My work was the usual- Goose's medicine, deliveries and then writing some more advertisements. I finished in quick time today, considering I only had three things to deliver. Nook had commented, sadly, on how no-one had ordered anything these last few days. He told me to make my advertisement good.

Afterwards, I strode around the town, searching for Crazy Redd's damn password. I was curious as to what he sold and I had heard, a few times, that he sold paintings for the museum. My next contribution.

Daisy didn't know, she didn't trust Crazy Redd and certainly didn't want to become a member. Punchy said he had misplaced his letter and decided to trek with me to find out too. Lucy was the one who helped.

We all walked up to his tent, Crazy Redd looking pleased at the sight of us. "Yes?"

"We know the password."

"Ah." He recited his secret question and we gave the answer. He smiled and lifted the tent's door, allowing us inside. Well, when I say us, I meant Punchy and Lucy. I was stopped. "That will be three-thousand Bells."

"What?!" Not even a please. These animals weren't associated with that word, clearly.

"To become a member, it's three-thousand Bells." I guessed, correctly, that in order to purchase anything, you had to be a member. I didn't have that amount of money on me. And if it was that much to become a member, imagine how much the merchandise would cost. I felt faint.

I could see the painting. It was the Mona Lisa. That had that here? Wow. What other famous paintings did they have? There was also a cute little white table with a lamp placed on top and an executive toy. All, sadly, not for me. Ah well.

"Sorry." I forced a smile, trying to be polite. "I can't afford that." We left, heading to the Town Hall to look through the recycling bin. It seemed that me contributing paintings was going to have to wait for a while.


	18. Truce?

**Chapter 18: Truce?**

So where was I going to get three-thousand Bells from? Sorry, I had miscalculated, I needed more than that if I wanted to buy the painting. Even if I gathered all of the town's apples I probably wouldn't have enough.

"Don't be discouraged." Lucy linked her arm through mine. Punchy shuffled after us. "We'll get that painting, and if not, there's always next week, Snooink." Crazy Redd appeared every week then? It was going to take me forever at that rate. Joy.

"And if you get a fake, then there's nothing you can do about it, Mrmpht, except try again and again and again and again….." I know he wasn't trying to dampen my spirits, I think Punchy was being realistic. He was still muttering 'and again' over and over, I think he had confused himself somehow.

"Don't worry." Lucy giggled. "He always gets like this." Bless him.

The recycling bin didn't have much to offer. Just a few carpets and a flower bag. Weird, why would someone dump that in there? Oh well, saved me buying one to make my garden pretty.

Lucy said that Nook probably would have had half of my loan paid off by now. I was cheered up by that thought, soon I would be job free. I could spend my days fishing and catching bugs and hanging out with my friends. I was going to steer clear of fossils for a while, the memories would haunt me forever, be pushed into a hole and left there, probably all night, or push someone in and make our already deteriorating relationship worse? I had chosen the latter and was dreading the consequences.

We entered Nook's, my mind still buzzing. He welcomed us all cheerfully, excited at having customers, except we weren't paying ones. That wiped the happy look right off his face. Like any shop owner, he didn't like loosing money. We received a share of two-hundred bells for our goods, Lucy and Punchy offered me their share too. How sweet.

"Right, what next?" I asked, sitting down outside my house to plant my roses. White. My favourite. There was no way I was bending down, not in the state my back was. Lucy had kindly offered to dig the hole for me, so all I had to do was plant the flower. I had forgotten to give Nook back his watering can, and he had forgotten to ask for it back, so I guess I had gained a free one. It's not like he was going to miss it, he had plenty after all.

"Fishing?" Punchy suggested. "Give some to the museum and sell the rest. By the end of the day you could have enough to become a member and buy that painting!" If I hadn't promised to help fill the whole museum up and if I didn't need that painting, I would have said screw Crazy Redd's stall. But I couldn't. Darn promises.

"Fair enough." Fishing meant we could laze around too, I think Punchy knew that.

"Wait!" We had just set off, when someone called out to us. Or maybe it was just one of us in particular. We spun round, Goose was standing by my house, his cheeks pink. He had either ran to catch us up or he was embarrassed. After the way he had been talking to me, I wasn't surprised at the latter.

"Yes?"

"I have something for you, Buh-kay." He held out his wing, he was holding a package. Punchy, Lucy and I looked at each other, who was he talking to?

To answer our unspoken question, he pushed the package into my arms. "T-thanks?" I stammered, confused. Why was he giving me a gift?

"It's to say thank you for giving me my medicine when I was ill and to apologize for snapping at you, Buh-kay. I shouldn't have, I think it was the bugs in my body that forced me to be like that." He started to jog on the spot. Like Kody, he couldn't bear to spend two minutes without some form of exercise. I felt slightly sorry for him being cooped up, ill, for the last few days. "Anyway, I heard you were looking for one, so…" Looking for…? I wasn't aware I had announced I was looking for anything. I was looking for a washing machine, but I hadn't even told Lucy or Punchy, so how could anyone else know?

I opened regardless, it **was** the washing machine I had wanted. Amazing. "Wow…" I gasped. "Thank you Goose, but how did you…?"

"I just hope we can be friends now." Her was still being rude, cutting across me, but never mind. "Truce?"

"Truce." We shook hands. Well, wing in his case. He looked happy, now that we were pronounced friends. "Are you up to anything interesting? You can always join Kody and I for a run. And we're doing some ab crunches after." He made it sound like we were impressed, if I was a fitness fan, I would have been. We declined his offer, as politely as we could and set off to the bank by Lucy's house. We couldn't be bothered to travel too far.

Hours later, we were laden with fish. Amongst the pile was the ever common crucian carp, as well as a few black bass, carp, goldfish and barbel steed. The goldfish was rather cute, I decided to keep one and donate the other to the museum, I probably lost out on quite a bit of money there, but my priority was to fill the museum. If paintings had to wait, then so be it.

Blathers was delighted with our catch. We watched him show the fish their new home, they seemed happy enough, swimming around in the enormous space of a tank. Their house was bigger than mine.

Again, Nook's smile rose and fell when we arrived, announcing that we were selling more stuff. He couldn't refuse, but I could see it in his eyes that he wished he didn't carry out that service. Still, with all that free work I was doing, how could he complain. I deserved this money.

I eventually ended up with three-thousand. Just another few thousand left, I had assumed. I decided to pay the members fee, before trying to find the extra Bells. At least if it took too long, I really did have next week.

Before heading to Crazy Redd's tent, I squeezed my washing machine in my cramped room and stuck the work shirt in to clean. I wasn't too surprised to find that it worked automatically, I was getting better at this expect the unexpected thing.

Redd smiled his shady smile and took the money from me with no hint of remorse. He ushered me in, it was stuffy and smelt weird; stale. "Whatcha want?" I pointed to the painting, I know I couldn't buy it yet, I just wanted to be prepared for the price. "Ah, you have good taste cousin, it took Redd forever to get his mitts on that, a famous painting. I suppose I could part with it for, say… three-thousand, nine-hundred and fifty bells?"

"What?" The word escaped before my head had time to recover from reeling. "I-I'm sorry, I can't afford that!" Redd looked dismayed. I exited the tent, slightly annoyed. I had to try to find nearly four-thousand bells just for a painting. Nothing in life is free, couldn't be a more truer saying.


	19. Many, many tasks, part one

_A/N- I would just like to apologize for my last chapter, I know it was rushed and boring, but I'm experiencing a bit of writers block atm. So if it takes me a while to post the rest of the fanfic, that's why. My apologies and hopefully this chapter, along with the rest, is better. :)_

**Chapter 19: Many, many tasks, part one.**

I eventually got enough money to get the painting. Thankfully, the next day, Crazy Redd was still there. By the time I ran up to him and stuffed the money into his hands, he was starting to pack up.

I won't bore you with the details of how I managed to get the money, lets just say it involved me staying up almost all night, as well as donating a hefty amount of fish to the museum. Blathers was immensely happy with me.

Surprisingly, so was Lobo. News travels fast in this town. He was at my door first thing in the morning, beaming at me. Compared to his usual self, it was rather pleasant. He told me that we should go fishing together some time and he invited me to his house, later that evening, for dinner. Just like Punchy, he asked if we could go and watch K.K. Slider perform afterwards. Looks like I had two dates tonight. Any coffee bought for me I had to politely decline, however.

I had been held up for a while, talking to Lobo, so I figured Nook would have to wait. Trying to get this painting was far more important. Especially if I still wanted to leave as soon as I could. I wasn't quite sure of that answer anymore.

Redd looked at me, shocked. "Can't you see I'm busy packing up before the cops come sniffing about?!" He snapped. Fake goods, scared of the police, it all clicked into place. He was running a black market. Perhaps I should alert Copper.

"I want to buy that painting. I have the money now." I hoped my pleading look was enough to convince him. I foolishly hoped, seeing as he was packing away in a hurry, that he would knock the price down. Stupid me.

"Alright, alright. Hurry!" He shoved the painting in my arms and shooed me away. To be honest, I thought Opal or Yuka would have bought this painting yesterday, considering they were the ones who collected paintings. Maybe they didn't have any money. I, again foolishly, hoped that me contributing towards the paintings in the museum would ease the tension between us.

Today clearly was the day of foolish hopes, because I found myself, for the third time, _foolishly hoping_ that Nook would give me the weekend off.

No such luck. He, personally, didn't have any jobs for me, but apparently quite a few others did. He had kindly (his words not mine) gone around town and asked each individual if they had any jobs. That included the Able sisters, the pelicans working at the Town Hall and a camel who visiting our town.

"How generous, yes?" He chirped, obviously thinking he had done me a favour. "Your neighbours always have little jobs for you to do, so I thought this little task would get you into the swing of things. Obviously, every gift you receive you will be able to keep and I will pay you for a full days work. It's not your fault I have no jobs for you."

I scanned the list. "Everyone has a job for me?"

"Yep." Groan.

I decided to start from the top, from Dotty's house and work my way from house to house. Anyone who was out for a stroll would wait till I saw them. I thought that way would be easier. Dotty was in, thankfully. Good start to a busy day.

"Oooh, you're here!" She was expecting me. She made some apology about her house having stains, not that I could see any, and then asked me to find her a lovely bed. "I'm just soooo into lovely furniture right now, Wee-one!"

"How am I going to find that?" I wondered, aloud. She giggled at me, like was stupid.

"Ask around." It really was obvious.

It didn't occur to me to ask any of the male animals would have a lovely bed. I thought the females would be more obvious, with the exception of Yuka and Opal. Yes, I was chicken. I was petrified they were going to turn nasty. My plan was beginning to look really dumb, I should have figured I would have had to travel the length of the town a fair few times to carry out what was asked of me.

Lucy was the first animal I came to on my trek to find a lovely bed. She didn't have one. In fact, to save time, Daisy and Tabby didn't either. They did recommend the recycling bin and the police station though, I hadn't thought of that.

No luck.

Punchy, in fact, came to my aid. He had seen me to-ing and fro-ing and followed me. "Yes!" He cried, once I had asked him. "I have one! I was going to sell it days ago, Mrmpht, but I never did!" Go figure, eh?

Dotty was ecstatic, well, this was Dotty I was talking about. I had a feeling she would have been full of smiles even if I had failed. Nonetheless, she rewarded me with an apple clock and one task was down. "See you tonight!" She called after me, I guess everyone was turning up tonight.

Task two was slightly easier, though it did involve me trekking to the other side of the town. Kody had written a letter for Goose and hadn't gotten round to posting it. "Don't read it, Grah, Grah!" He warned. I had no intention of doing so, it was probably about jock straps or some sporting event.

Goose smiled shyly at me, I think he was still embarrassed by his behaviour. He thanked me for the letter and read me snippets. I didn't understand most of it, I guess I had to read what Goose had written beforehand. Then he told me to tell Kody I had delivered it, before he would issue me with his task.

"Thank you." Kody handed me an exotic lamp. It was rather big, I didn't think it would fit in my cramped little room. It was nice to see him so friendly, though.

"I have a little competition for you, Ah-rooo." Lobo announced, as I jogged up to him, puffing. He wasn't at home and I was planning on skipping past him, but I spotted him by the river, just by the museum. Any excuse to put off seeing Yuka.

"What's…that?" Out of breath, I just managed to wheeze the words out.

"Fishing." His eyes gleamed, he clearly saw fishing as an exciting hobby. I didn't. From my previous experiences, I found it rather boring. "First person to catch a sea bass, wins!"

"Wait!" Lobo had started to race to the sea, I was starting to get a stitch. "Just wait a minute… That is your task?"

Lobo nodded. "I didn't have any jobs for you, Ah-rooo. I thought this would give you something to do and would give us dinner." I had been looking forward to dinner at Lobo's, but now I knew fish was on the menu, I wasn't. I couldn't stand fish. Fishing was bad enough, but actually eating one… Blergh! Looks like I would have to stuff my face beforehand.

I wasted half an hour catching horse mackerels. It was an addition to my collection to donate, along with the famous painting. Lobo hadn't had any luck either, he was still fishing in the distance.

But then, a huge shadow came swimming towards my bobber, I hoped that this was the sea bass I needed to beat Lobo. I'm not a competitive person, usually, but the thrill of winning compelled me here. This town seemed to bring out either the best or worst in people. It brought out the worst in me.

The fish pulled at my bobber, I waited patiently, waiting for it to pull the bobber under. WHAM! I was knocked to my feet, my rod yanked out of the sea and the fish was slinking away. Pearls of laughter filled my ears, I looked up to find Yuka walking towards the bridge, a grin on her face.

Rubbing my side, which felt bruised, I stood back up, only to notice Lobo heading my way. I had lost. "Never mind." He tried not to look too pleased. He hadn't seen Yuka barge into me. Maybe she didn't, but I had a feeling that it wasn't thin air who had attacked me.

I watched Lobo head back to his house to cook his fish, humming. We had arranged for me to arrive at half past six. I knew Yuka wasn't home, she had probably gone to visit Opal. That suited me fine, I would save them both till last.

With that in mind, I headed up to the museum, to deposit my donations. Blathers accepted the fish, still deeply impressed by my good nature. However, the painting disgraced him. And humiliated me.

"A forgery, what criminal! Who would do such a thing! If I find out you've been making copies…" He was to mad to finish his sentence, his eyes glaring at me. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had started to froth at the mouth. He was that mad. I was too. I had wasted all that time, all that money on a fake! When I got my hands on Crazy Redd…


	20. Many, many tasks, part two

_Whoa, this has been a long time coming. I am so sorry…_

**Chapter 20: Many, many tasks, part two**_****__._

Angry and humiliated, I walked back outside. It had started to rain. I think that could have been a sign from above, trying to cool me down, but it didn't work. I was only maddened.

I had no umbrella and no money, so I headed to Lucy's dripping wet. Thankfully, she was in. I had been thrown a bone.

As usual, or rather I assumed it was usual as she often wandered about clutching her magic watering can (magic as in it never empties- wonders would never cease), pottering about her garden. It had bloomed over night, at least half a dozen flowers I hadn't noticed before were sprouted. And for one brightening moment, as I imagined what my own garden could look like with a bit of work, I found it pretty.

Unlike humans, these animals were unaffected by the heavy drops of rain. I thought, rather bitterly as I came back to my grumpy senses, that maybe they didn't actually feel what I felt. Figments of imagination didn't actually have the sense of smell, touch, taste and whatever else.

Any minute now I was going to wake from this coma, muttering about raccoons and nasty green elephants.

It's funny how a bad mood could turn you just like that.

Lucy smiled cheerily at me, tipping her watering can over some darkened pansies. I almost made some snippy comment about the rain being able to do that for her until I reminded myself that, through everything, Lucy had been kind to me.

My wilted hair dripped onto the sodden grass, making a sploshing noise that matched that of the rain drops. In this magical world, their tinkling sounded like a song. Cheery to match almost everyone's persona. I smiled back, despite my screaming inside and asked about my task. I was so hacked off with everything that I wasn't all that pleased to hear Lucy's insistence to being a good host. As much as I longed for a warm, fluffy towel and some bubble tea (any tea would be good), I just wanted to plod on.

To my relief, it was simple. I suspected she had just made it up to help out Nook on his infuriating mission to get me to bond with the neighbours, or whatever his scheme was. Actually, if it was a scheme, it was probably one to get me to do as much work as I possibly could. Maybe this town exploited humans… Hence the spooky lack of them.

Anyway…

Getting the flower seeds from Nook's was easy and quick, eventhough he had tried to engage me in uneasy conversation. He had gone from accusing me to slacking off to trying to sell me more items. My acrimony almost returned- I had to bite my tongue from reminding him, harshly, about my indecent wages all going on a house I didn't want.

The planting took some more time. I guess I should have expected it- everything was to be expected at this point- but it surprised me that the soil felt all slushy in the rain. Not only was I freezing and soaked to the bone, by the time I had finished I was also streaked with dirt and grass stains.

If Goose had trouble hiding his laugh then I could imagine what the snooty elephant and her sidekick would be like. However, a fateful side effect to all this bad luck- I was beginning not to care.

I honestly, innocently, thought that Goose's task would be a reply to Kody. Laugh up my foolishness- I did. As I marched through the damp town, I laughed like a madwoman at my stupidity. I laughed at my surprise. I laughed at the prospect of their being **balls** (of all things) in this town.

No proper food, no running water, but balls… there were plenty.

Controlling it, I would have thought it was easy. In fact, as soon as the thought entered my head I ruled against it. I had learnt by now that my assumptions were never correct. Well the tables had now turned. I was right for once- controlling this abnormal sized ball (the size of my head) was immensely difficult. It would never stay straight.

Tabby was out. Daisy was out. Punchy was out.

Glad of more excuses, I took to searching for them in the obvious of places. I was glad to see that at least one of them thought simply.

Daisy was incessantly walking into the wall of the fountain. I think she was trying to walk around it, but I wasn't sure. I stood staring for a minute or so, deciding whether I would be doing the right thing in helping her, when she noticed me.

"Hello, Bow-wow" She grinned, speeding up her pace and grazing past the wall towards me. Amazingly, there appeared to be no damage and my open mouth didn't deter her from doing a Dotty- singing and dancing in front of me. Flowers (or at least something similar) materialized above her head.

A present was shoved into my arms, with a warning similar to Kody's, after we had conversed for some time. Thankfully (things were looking up), it was for someone I was looking for.

Tabby was lost amongst some trees. She didn't look lost, but she was just standing in the middle of a large clump, still as a statue. I cleared my throat, but no movement.

"Tabby?" I whispered. I didn't like being made to jump, but a lot of things made me. Others jumping was one of them.

"I have a present for you." I tried again, braver. I edged around to her line of sight, glancing nervously at her spookily still, unblinking face.

"TABBY!"

"Oh, thank you." She took the neatly wrapped box in her paws. "Me-wow." It opened without her even touching it and the she back-flipped suddenly, changing her bone patterned shirt into one exactly like Opal's. Figured.

I waited for her to issue me with her task, but she stared at me blankly, before smiling. "Tell Daisy thank you from me." With that, she walked off.

Eventually, she asked me to get her comic book from Yuka. It was, apparently a rush job with a time limit of half an hour, meaning I had to head to Opal's before finding one of my only pals.

And I had been hoping to ask Punchy to help me with the rest of my tasks.

It turned out that Punchy had the comic book anyhow. Yuka, issuing me with nothing more than a sneer, had explained she lent 'the poor dear Punchy' Tabby's comic book, believing it was hers. Opal, who, as it was her house, had stood by us as we talked had been pretty polite… the most polite I had seen her anyway.

Punchy came with me to give Tabby her comic and I in turn gave him my reward- an orange. He ate it as we walked back to Opal's, spraying me with juice and fleshy tidbits. I had never wanted a bath more.

My final three neighbourly tasks were simple. My fears of seeing the snooty twins looked silly when I looked back. One wanted any change of clothes from the Able Sisters (I got the cheapest I could and they were just as content) and the other wanted a Monarch butterfly as a pet. Given the time of day, plenty were fluttering by.

Punchy had wanted some fruit and given as I had given him some as a thank you gift, I had nothing more to do in terms of his task. That just left three more people…

I should have just hung a sign around my neck and perched on the station steps, advertising my services. I had to deliver clothes for the Able sisters. Post for the pelicans, giving Pete an afternoon off ("Don't worry if it's early, we just need the post delivered! Come back later for more!"), and carpets for the camel, Sahara. She trotted beside me, rendering her claims of her aching feet invalid, as I trekked to desired houses and buildings, telling me all about her journey from home and being poor and recycling old carpets. She banged on and on about poor old her so much that I wanted to scream.

At least she wasn't stuck in this nightmare.

* * *

_I'm running out of ideas for this fic. Any suggestions would be most welcome- perhaps you'd like another human character to appear or something. Let me know please._

_And again, sorry it has been ages since I updated._


	21. Your conflict is getting old

**Chapter 21: Your conflict is getting old, cheer up already.**

I was late.

Hours of free labour and human exploitation later I had staggered home and collapsed, ready to call it a night.

Until I remembered that I was having dinner at Lobo's. Half of me wanted to call it off. Given that he was a wolf, however, it didn't seem like a good idea. Him snarling was a bad enough thought, but the fact that he could eat me clinched the deal.

Although, that's probably why I was invited.

I rushed to get cleaned up and ready, tiring myself out all the more. I ended up literally dragging myself all the way to his house. I was already late, why would a few more minutes make a difference?

I was still panicking when I reached his door. Since arriving, my brain had split into two sides- the cynical, always-seeing-the-worst side and the benefit of the doubt side. I was often forced to listen to them argue and now was no exception. Still, if I was going to be eaten (like the cynical side kept insisting) at least I'd be out of here. This place still gave me the creeps- the cheeriness, the fact that everything looked fake and out of a cartoon… I hated it.

Anyway…

I could smell burnt fish as I approached the door. My stomach growled in disgust and hunger. Ah crap. I'd forgotten to stuff myself with fruit before facing food I couldn't stand.

I rapped on the door twice before hearing Lobo mutter. I took it to mean 'Come in', but for all I knew it could have been go away. An angry wolf was all I needed before entering its den.

He was stood by an oversized table that looked like a tree had been sawn in half and sanded down. The roots had been cut off and fashioned into chunky legs. Lobo had decorated it with a thin patterned cloth. I saw no signs of an oven, a fridge or any appliance used to cook or store food. In the _real _world that was. However, I was gestured to sit down on one of the chairs tucked under the trunk. I did so, choosing to sit opposite the annoying figurine that kept making rude noises. I could keep an eye on it that way.

Lobo laid out two plates and some cutlery. It looked like ones you could get in a dolls house set, only bigger. Obviously. It was cute. He placed a large pot in the middle and ladled two large helpings of air onto my plate, before doing the same to his.

It was weird, I could smell it, but there was nothing there.

He sat down and smiled. At least, I think that's what him baring his teeth meant. I smiled back, shakily, and waited for him to be seated and start eating, to see what he would do.

He picked up his spoon and scraped it across the plate. When he had first pulled the pot out of his invisible pocket I had thought it strange that he had put out plates for fish soup. Now I could see that it didn't matter either way. Air settled just as well on plates as it did in bowls.

He glanced up from slurping and eyed me. "Go on then," he growled, "eat up."

I quickly mimicked his actions and rammed the spoon in my mouth. The metallic tang made my stomach groan. I kept it up until he had finished, adding an extra spooning for effect. He seemed satisfied, even smug when I thanked him for dinner.

No harm in being polite, I guess.

"Tea?" I nodded absent mindedly, wondering where he was getting all this crockery from. He pulled a tea set from his 'pocket' and set it beside the pot. Two small tea cups were placed upon a green tray, along with a teapot.

He handed me a cup and poured some brown, steaming liquid into it. At least this was real. I thanked him again and took a sip. I almost choked on air when I realized that was all it was. I could have sworn there was tea in my cup a moment before.

"Something wrong?"

"N-no…" I stammered, "…hot."

I pretended to drink the rest, still puzzled by its sudden disappearance. Once we had finished, Lobo stood up and suggested we leave for the concert.

"Do you need a hand with the washing up?" I asked graciously, as a way of thanking him for his hospitality. (And for not eating me…)

He took one look at me and burst into barking laughter. "That's a good one, Ah-rooo!" I laughed uneasily with him, though I couldn't see how it was funny.

Punchy was waiting outside. I had no clue as to how he knew I was there. Stalking me, I presumed. At first I had thought he was waiting for Lobo, but as I stared at him in surprise and noticed the lack of it from him, I realized.

Now I had two dates. Both of which were animals.

It was packed at Brewster's. I had experienced a claustrophobic feeling the last time I was there; crammed into a tiny room with a few other animals, but this time, with half the village, it was worse. Being jostled around by Dotty and Tabby didn't help. They repeated the word 'welcome' over and over, eventhough they had already made me feel quite welcome in their village. The only thing that stopped me from feeling welcome was my stubbornness, my insistence that I didn't belong. It wasn't real.

"Ahem!" The hubbub of chatter died down, leaving Dotty to rush the last line of her sentence as she conversed with Daisy. Tabby shot her a glare and her ears drooped as she fell silent.

"Hello everyone! I'd like to thank you all for coming. I know you all like to watch K.K. Slider perform anyway, but tonight is extra special as it's a welcoming party for Aimee." All eyes fell on me, except for Brewster's, who was concentrating on cleaning a mug, and the white dog on the make-shift stage. His head was bowed, staring down at the chords on the guitar in his hands. He was strumming quietly, humming a tune. Practising, no doubt.

"Anyway, Me-wow, I'll leave you to the melodies of.." She giggled and blushed, "K.K. Slider." She rushed back to her seat next to Dotty and began whispering to her. About how 'totally hot' K.K Slider is, maybe?

He looked up for the first time and his unfocused eyes bore into the wall opposite him. I was convinced he was doing drugs. It would explain some of the animal's behaviours if there was a dealer about. The strumming got louder and the dog cleared his throat before whistling tunefully.

For at least five blissful minutes, I actually enjoyed myself. These quirky animals seemed more human (as human as animals could get) in the dim lights. The peaceful music calmed my conflicting brain and made me smile.

Oh God. K.K Slider had infiltrated the air with drugs.

* * *

My cheerful mood lasted through to the next morning. I noticed things I had never noticed before as I headed to work. The cooling breeze of autumn air ruffling my hair, the fragrant scent of the flowers in bloom, the sounds of leaves rustling, butterflies flapping their wings and how beautiful the sun looked as it rose through the clouds.

Today was going to be a good day. Maybe the voices in my head would stop quarrelling. Maybe I would stop being so cynical and enjoy my stay- however long or short it was. Maybe I was going home.

Maybe I should stop expecting good things to happen to me.

"Ah Aimee," Nook chirped as I entered his run down shack, "I have good news."

"Oh?"

"We will be closed tomorrow for renovation. Business is booming yes?" How was I supposed to know? But I guess it was good news, if it meant I had a day off. Or was he going to make me run around after everyone else again?

"Unfortunately," he continued, his unnaturally cheerful face drooping a little, "I have no more work for you to do which means you're free. I will miss seeing you about the place, hm."

"So my mortgage is paid off?" I think I sounded too hopeful as Nook looked at me a little sternly. I tried to smooth out my face quickly, but probably ended up looking retarded.

"Oh no, no, goodness no!" He chuckled. "You'll still have to pay that off. Surely you know how to go about making money by now, hm? Selling anything you don't need, running errands, that sort of thing. I took the liberty of setting up an account for you to pay off your loan in the Town Hall."

How kind.

"And I'm going to need your uniform back."

Ah. I suppose I should be pleased. That thing was dingy.

I ran all the way home and put on yesterday's clothes. Then started to plan my future days of freedom as I trekked back up. I wasn't sure of what to do. Sure, there was fishing and catching bugs, but after a few hours I knew it would start to bore me.

"Here you go." I handed the folded uniform over and Nook took it with a nod.

"Thank you Aimee." I expected him to tuck it away in his pocket, but instead he turned to his right. "Here's your new uniform."

I looked up. Having rushed in I had missed the person stood by Nook's side, grinning at me. She had bubblegum pink hair, tucked away into two pigtails. Her eyes were chocolate brown, huge and soft, hidden beneath long, fluttering eyelashes. Two pink spots brightened her cheeks as she smiled politely.

"Thank you," she said sweetly, taking the uniform from Nook's paws.

"Aimee, this is Roxanne."

_Sorry it took so long. I added up all the hours it takes me to play all three of my AC games in a day- 9. Can you believe that? Lol. [Raaandom]_

_Anyway, thank you for the reviews and alerts. Keep it up... Else face the wrath of Dotty's creepy dancing._

_Just press it._


	22. Reality check

_Thank you for all the reviews :) Sorry about the wait, laptop crisis. _

_Roary- I'll definitely add your character at some point. It would make an interesting turn of events to have two characters with different viewpoints to Aimee. Are there any preferences to clothing, personality and favourite hobbies?_

_If anyone else wants me to add their character- person or otherwise- please let me know._

**Chapter 22: Reality check.**

Roxanne, I decided after my initial assessment, was the total opposite of me. From what I saw of her that day, she seemed to take her menial tasks in her stride, that butter-wouldn't-melt smile firmly in place. She certainly didn't mind working her cotton socks off for a shack she didn't want.

Obviously, she did want it.

Nook seemed to adopt a different, less annoying, persona when she was around too. It figured that she was the ideal human villager for this animal inhabited town. Polite, friendly, hardworking- all fantastic qualities for a sales person.

And, not that I was spying or anything, from what I saw, queen snootikins herself took an instant liking to her.

Looking down at my shabby clothing and comparing it to the brand new gingham Roxanne wore, I wasn't surprised.

Needless to say, I was in a worse mood than usual.

A number of things had struck me, as I headed back to my dimly lit shed. Other than the obvious- needing more homely things, especially an umbrella to guard myself from the raindrops that were falling thick and fast (matching my depressing mood I add)- I was worried about losing what little friends I had here to miss perfect.

Which was a surprise, as I genuinely thought that I couldn't care less.

Another thing was that if another human had arrived, what did that mean? I had experienced random strangers popping up in my dreams, but none of them had been more than a passing figure. Their faces had been too blurred to take in any features, yet I could recall Roxanne's angelic face even as I processed my thoughts. Was this 'cos she was still a recent part of my dream?

I had a niggling feeling that the theory I had so desperately clung to was slipping through my fingers. Fast. The last grains were left. If I were to continue foolishly believing, then I'd be clutching at straws.

I think I've underlined the issue for you enough, right?

My cynicism really was getting old.

* * *

By midday, I had figured that the only way to resolve a few issues was to talk to her directly. I had tried the chicken way and addressed a letter, but the words wouldn't piece themselves together in a dignified manner. They sounded childish. _I _sounded childish.

Another ploy I had thought of was enlisting the help of Lucy or someone, but I knew, instantly, that they would have wanted to stick around and nose in my conversation. As much as I (wished) believed they were figments of my imagination, I didn't want to hurt or lose any allies. Not when I needed looking after.

"Could I talk to Roxanne for a few minutes, please?" I managed a different smile from my usual half-hearted one. Either to sidle round Nook or to show him that Roxanne wasn't the only nice human. Believe it or not Nook, I wasn't actually a bitter person. In the real world.

He shot me a sceptical look, tucking away some parchment into his apron. It was strange to see where someone's inventory went for a change. I still hadn't figured out how socking great big pieces of furniture fitted into my clothes that didn't have pockets. And weighed almost nothing. And turned into different things depending on where they were placed (leaves outside, actual objects inside), but that was a different issue.

"She's busy." Being a good little worker bee. "Why, hmm?"

"Oh, I, er…" I hadn't thought of a plausible excuse. I had expected Nook to try and sell me something and then I would have involved Roxanne in the conversation, carrying it on further with some hint dropping.

In my defence, fully functioning plans weren't my speciality.

"Do you have a task for her?" his beady eyes brightened and I eagerly jumped at this opportunity.

"Wanted to help ease her in to our way of life." I lied through my teeth, praying that the 'our' would go down a treat.

Which, of course, it did.

"Splendid, splendid," he clapped his paws together and hurried off outside. I assumed Roxanne was helping others and stayed put, admiring an ornate looking lamp.

A few minutes later, still looking immaculate, Roxanne appeared. I felt even worse, remembering how dirty I had gotten during Nook's horrible tasks. Maybe it was just me- clumsy and messy. I hated the negative impact this place had on me.

Her sweet, girly, voice brought me back to the store and I grinned at her, embarrassed. She was waiting patiently for me to respond, but it was clear that she thought I was weird. Spacing out was something I had a huge problem with in the real world too.

"Can you get some time off?" I asked, hoping that she had said something along the lines of; 'what did you want?' Her reaction assured me that I had replied correctly, or at least, not unusually.

"I thought you had a job for me?" Although she looked confused, she still kept her voice pleasant and polite. I decided that I was still the only human around. Roxanne was too robotic.

"Erm… yeah, yeah. I just need to 'borrow' you for a short while. To explain my- er- 'task'" I gabbled, grabbing her elbow and pulling her forcefully out of the door. It was nice to feel human flesh again, not meaning that in some sort of zombiesk way. Ruffled feathers and fuzzy fur freaked me out. Especially when you're expecting it to feel more like a stuffed animal than real.

I didn't want to sit on the damp grass, but I didn't want to drag Roxanne all the way back to my hovel either. It felt inappropriate. I considered asking her if we could talk at hers, but that seemed even less appropriate. We stood in the misty rain for a while waiting for either one of us to make suggestions. Ok, _she_ waited for_ me_ to tell her where we were going, but I was still assessing what to suggest. I watched her curled eyelashes flutter at me as she waited.

I hadn't had the chance to take a proper look at myself since arriving, but I had always imagined that I looked like a rag doll, in correlation to the town. Roxanne didn't. Aside from looking real, she felt it too.

Aargh, too much confusion!

"It's pretty overwhelming at first, isn't it?" she laughed a tinkling laugh, apparently able to guess my train of thought. "I was like this when I first experienced the crazy animal universe."

"Yeah, I-" Wait, what? This wasn't her first time in a town of talking animals?

She noticed my obvious look of bewilderment and laughed again. This time it sounded sympathetic.

"Lets get out of the drizzle," she suggested, "I'll explain everything."

She tucked her hand in mine, making me jump at the sudden feeling of flesh I hadn't felt in, what, a week? I trailed behind her as she led the way to her own slum. It amazed me to see it cramped with boxes, much like the one that supported my only source of light. Unlike it though, these ones opened and miniature pieces of furniture were nestled inside.

"Sorry about the mess, I haven't had the chance to unpack." So many questions buzzed around my mind- where had she lived previously? Why did she leave? How come she had so much stuff? And so much more, I didn't know where to start.

I barely noticed her unpack a refrigerator and display it in the corner of the square room. She opened the bottom compartment, blinding me with the unexpected light, and pulled out a tea set that was the double of Lobo's.

"I imagine you have a lot of questions," she said pouring tea. _Real _tea. "I did. And no-one to explain it to me." I gabbled a few words in response, not knowing where to start. I took the warm mug and brought it to my lips, panicking almost when the hot liquid scalded my lips.

"Is this… Is this real?" I squawked, letting the cup clatter to the floor as my alarm brought on a panic attack. Roxanne sympathised in an understanding manner. She'd probably had the very same ordeal. Well, perhaps a similar one.

"Yes," she responded quietly, once my breathing had returned to normal and I was no longer wheezing. "All of this is real."


	23. Let's knock sense into you, literally

_No problem, ZebraZoink, I'll introduce your character soon._

_Thanks for all the reviews :)_

* * *

Wake up, wake up wake up…

"Aimee… Wake up!" I felt distorted and dizzy, the back of my head was throbbing dully, though with each blink the haze subsided and the pain sharpened.

Being the fool I was, my first words mimicked my primary thoughts: "Mum?"

I heard laughter; soft tittering in the background, followed by the harsh tones of someone shushing them. I blinked again and reached up to touch the soft pink wool of my doll's hair to soothe me as I wrapped my fingers in it.

Hang on, my doll's hair wasn't pink.

I didn't even have a doll.

"Ouch!" My arm fell back down the floor quickly in response, trying to flick away the strands of hair that clung to my fingers. A final blink and I saw Roxanne adjusting one of her pigtails in the centre of a scary five-headed monster.

"She's awake now."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Mrmpht, we can see that." Two of the heads- the black and white rabbit shaped one and the similar cat shaped one- turned to glare at each other over Roxanne's shoulders. Unfortunately, a dog and a pig, both pure white in colour, were caught in the crossfire, obstructing the other's views. It was funny seeing these floating heads bob about, trying to maintain their angry faces.

So funny in fact that I began to laugh.

"Thank you for your help guys," Roxanne stood up and somehow managed to untangle herself from the animal mess. She reached the door, which due to the size of her minute shack wasn't too far from where she had knelt, and pushed it open. The crisp Autumn breeze wafted in and made me smile. I loved days like these.

"But I want to stay for tea." Punchy's stomach rumbled right on cue. Loudly. "I even brought fruit." He pulled an orange from his pocket and held it up for us to admire. Except no-one did apart from me. I had reached the gawping stage of concussion, laying there with my mouth hanging open like a goon.

"That's lovely," I managed to notice the worn tone in Roxanne's voice, "very kind, but you have it." Lucy seemed to notice too. Her trotter reached back in and grabbed Punchy's tail. He yelped slightly, but a huge bite of the orange seemed to placate him. He slurped a goodbye to me as he munched his way through peel and orange alike, fleshy specks of drool dangling from his whiskers.

How strangely lifelike.

"Finally." Roxanne sunk into an armchair I hadn't noticed that was neatly placed in the top left corner. It almost touched the refrigerator on the other side. She needed to upgrade her shack fast. The remainder of the boxes were pushed up against the wall in front of the fridge and I finally realized I was resting on a rather plush sofa that stole the remaining space. "I only went out for water."

Water? Why?

I slowly pulled myself up, resting against the damp armrest. Damp? Water… Oh. No wonder my face felt clammy.

"Nook'll be doing his nut," I croaked, "go, I'll be fine. We'll have to talk later." I was still a little dazed, unable to remember what we were talking about before… I couldn't even remember passing out.

Roxanne was shaking her head. "I told him I need to look after you. If he's acting strangely around you from now on, I apologise. I had to tell him."

"Tell him…?"

"That you think this isn't real."

"You mean no-one's noticed?" I was astounded. It couldn't be normal for a human to act so oddly around them. Mind you, how normal was it for a human to actually be present in the land of talking animals?

"They got used to what they call 'human behaviour' long ago." Roxanne was sitting stiffly on the edge of her seat. She reminded me of how psychiatrists sat whilst they evaluated their patients. Conveniently, the sofa was facing opposite her. I felt suddenly awkward, until I remembered that Roxanne was going to do some explaining, not diagnosing. It all rushed back to me and hit me, rather hard, in the face.

_This was __**real.**_

"I don't know a lot," she admitted and as I looked at her, I felt a pang of guilt for having been so cynical about her too. "They're lovely animals, but terribly uneducated. They just accept it all. None of my neighbours in Forest knew when or how humans started arriving. I just appeared."

We talked for a while. Well, I listened more than anything. I still had that niggling, a distant hope that she was lying through her teeth at my expense, that it really was just a dream. A long one. Or, I was lying in a coma, having been hit by a car or something. But it was deep, deep down, much further than it had ever been before.

Some things had been explained that made perfect sense to me. So much sense that I couldn't find excuses for them anymore. Like the contrast between dull and bright days- when I was happy things were clearer. When I started, or even had a tiny bit of belief, I could see the reality. Hence why the tea remained real when Roxanne poured it. I was too focused on answers to give in to doubt.

To anyone else it would have seemed weird, but to me, it made sense.

"So, how do we leave?"

Roxanne shrugged. "Why would you want to leave?" I had a million answers to that, but seeing as how my negativity was holding me back here, I was determined to turn over a new, positive, leaf. "Perhaps we were brought here for a reason."

"Like to learn a lesson, like we're in some corny film?" she shrugged again, "that's stu- that's something to consider, I guess." I paused. "Like what?"

"I don't know."

"How did _you _get here? From your town?"

"Taxi."

"There's a taxi?" I was stunned. I had seen the train, albeit rarely since arriving, and even a bright yellow bus that I had heard in passing took you to the city. I had been shocked to hear there was a city.

"Yeah, the train brings in new arrivals, the taxi service helps you move from town to town and the bus takes you to the city. I think there's even an island you can visit by boat."

"Wow, do you think they're kidnapping humans?" I was instantly interested in this new world. Don't get me wrong, I had been so depraved of human interaction that even a good old nonsense gossip was welcome. And I wasn't one to partake in such a thing normally. Fact over fiction and all that.

Roxanne laughed, but shook her head. I remained unconvinced.

* * *

_I'm so sorry, as always, that it took so long. I seem to keep getting caught up in everything. I'll try not take so long next time._


End file.
